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News from the Front Lines: The Transformation of Hardcore-Punk Fanzines in Post-Digital Era

Publication at Faculty of Social Sciences |
2019

Abstract

The aim of this study is to critically analyze the role of printed fanzines in the post-digital era. Fanzines are non-commercial magazines which are mainly produced by subculture members.

They used to bring fresh information to readers, but their role has changed. The main research question of this study is why Czech authors who are members of hardcore-punk subculture (who are currently the most active producers) still produce printed magazines when fresh information can be easily found on the internet.

Fanzines in contrast with mainstream media are participatory media which turn consumers into producers - subculture has a non-hierarchical structure therefore it offers a bigger space for participation. I chose the method of qualitative in-depth interviews with 8 informers to learn more about subcultural mechanisms; a part of the informers were active in the pre-digital era and the second part of the informers were active in the post-digital era.

This range of informers helped me to depict the change which came along with digital media.