Pirate Media
Pirate media refers to media outlets that operate without official license. This is different from alternative media—those outlets that provide in their content and operation a challenge to the dominant media and social systems. In the United States, for example, legally authorized and operated radio stations may be alternative in their programming— for example, Pacifica stations KPFA in Berkeley, California, and WBAI in New York City—but they are not pirate. Likewise, because print media are not licensed in the United States, alternative newspapers abound. Thus, "pirate" typically refers to media otherwise requiring official authority to operate (i.e., radio and television) and to the illegality of their operation rather than to the nature of their content. This does not mean that pirate media are not alternative in their content, because many, if not most, are alternative in content. Despite the fact that they do have illegal operation in common, pirate stations in different countries and different media systems do serve different functions for those countries and systems.
The term "pirate" came into use in Great Britain in the 1960s, when it was applied to illegally operated radio stations broadcasting to English audiences from off-shore facilities. Pirate, then, had a dual connotation—these broadcasters were, like pirates, rogues and law-breakers, and again like pirates, they operated on the high seas.
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