Can you recommend any non-mainstream media that are also no "social" and online media outlets? Books would come to my mind, but these do not provide any recent news, so I'm always baffled when someone criticizes "mainstream" media as if they had some kind of premium access to better, but semi-secret news sources. LexisNexis?
Or is it just a way of talking and you don't want imply that there are non-mainstream media worth reading?
I would think it was obvious that I was quoting something from the link I posted, but I guess it's not, somehow.
As far as what mainstream media is - I would think that is also obvious. Mainstream media tends to have a broad focus, and not to have analysis suited to experts in the field they report on.
So if one is discussing science reporting and says Mainstream Media it means publications that do not limit themselves to publishing on matters of science, probably don't publish on science very often, and probably don't have staff that know much about science.
Just as when you talk about programming and say mainstream media you are not talking about Dr. Dobbs or some ACM Journal.
As a matter of fact ACM Journals, being focused on relatively narrow subject matters, are not mainstream media.
There is of course mainstream media used as a general pejorative where it is assumed that it exists to disseminate some form of official propaganda that people knowledgeable about some conspiracy can see through.
Or is it just a way of talking and you don't want imply that there are non-mainstream media worth reading?