The Sixties Underground Press and the Digital Age: Part 1

By Josie Breck, Periodicals Department

Marshall McLuhan said “the medium is the message” – meaning every new medium changes the way we interact with the world, including the message within that medium. While obvious in the present day, where the internet has dramatically shaped our daily lives, we need not stray far from Mcluhan’s own time for another poignant example: underground newspapers. While not strictly a “new” medium, the US underground press boom of the Sixties rose out of a newly available process – offset printing made it possible to start a publication with a smaller investment of time and money than with the previously dominant process of letterpress, resulting in a massive boom in independent publications.

From there, we can see similarities between the underground boom of the Sixties and the online boom of the past few decades. Both were made possible by newly available technology, opened up dialogues which were not possible under the oversight of the previous mass media monopoly gatekeepers, and radically changed society.

To make more of these underground papers accessible, I have digitized a few papers which I could not easily find online. You can find them on my Internet Archive account. Note that the presence of a digitized publication on my account does not amount to an endorsement. The underground press scene was run predominantly by cis heterosexual white men. As such, there is much transphobia, homophobia, racism, misogyny, and other chauvinistic expressions within the papers.

Embracing Subjectivity

A feature of most radical press movements is the throwing out of journalistic “objectivity” – the idea that a journalist should state facts plainly without pushing any particular agenda. While this idea of objectivity is the bread and butter of most mainstream news media, the radical press has no use for this concept – the agenda of radical publishers is rarely concealed, because the purpose of publishing is agitation into action.

For example, Free Palestine, a paper closely tied to the Palestinian resistance of the time, edited by Arab-American lawyer and activist Abdeen Jabara, is a paper with a clear agenda, with a call to action on the front of every issue. They engaged in dialogue with others who did not entirely agree with their perspective, but there is no question of what the editors were really trying to say.

(It is worth noting that Jabara and his clients were targets of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the late 60s. Decades old at that point, the NSA was still not known to the general public, operating mostly in secret.)

In the present, this issue continues to challenge the so-called “objectivity” of mainstream media. Often it is framed as being “too complicated” for the subjectively-minded masses to fully understand. This appeal to “objectivity” ironically conceals what the occupation objectively is: a textbook case of settler colonial occupation and genocide, to which according to international law the Palestinian people have a legal right to resist. A powerful resistance to this facade of “objectivity” has swept social media platforms on an unprecedented scale for going on half a year, thanks in part to mobilization by Palestinian and anti-zionist activists over social media.

New Year! New Books available at the Pratt!

Happy New Year! Here’s a look at the latest books to hit the Pratt Library’s shelves and eLibrary. We hope that you enjoy reading them.

The Fury
By Alex Michaelides

Book | eBook| eAudio

Come and Get It
By Kiley Reid

Book | eBook| eAudio

Random in Death
By J.D. Robb

Book | eBook| eAudio

Rich AF
By Vivian Tu

eBook| eAudio

House of Flame and Shadow
By Sarah J. Maas

Book | eBook

Martyr!
By Kaveh Akbar

Book | eBook | eAudio

And Then We Rise
By Common

Book

The Heiress
By Rachel Hawkins

Book | eBook| eAudio

Break the Cycle
Dr. Mariel Buqué

Book

First Lie Wins
By Ashley Elston

Book | eBook| eAudio

So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls
By Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

eBook

Last Call at the Local
By Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Book | eBook| eAudio

What’s New for Teens this January

Celebrate the new year by checking out a new book! Here’s a look at the latest titles in Young Adult Fiction.

No One Left But You
By Tash McAdam

Book

Our Cursed Love
By Julie Abe

Book | eBook

A Fragile Enchantment
By Allison Saft

Book | eBook | eAudio

Impossible Escape
By Steve Sheinkin

Book | eBook

Wren Martin Ruins it All
By Amanda Dewitt

eBook

The Queer Girl is Going to Be Okay
By Dale Walls

Book | eBook

Pritty
By Keith F. Miller, Jr.

Book

Swarm
By Jennifer D. Lyle

eBook

Godly Heathens
By H.E. Edgmon

Book | eBook | eAudio

Artifacts of an Ex
By Jennifer Chen

Book | eBook

Her Dark Wings
By Melinda Salisbury

eBook

The Revenge Game
By Jordyn Taylor

Book

Make Those Resolutions Reality in 2024 with these Reads

Looking for help to reach your New Year resolutions? Get inspired with the eBooks available in Hoopla’s New Year Aspirations collection.

Four Thousand Weeks
By Oliver Burkeman

Wear It Well
By Allison Bornstein

Atomic Habits
By James Clear

How to do the Work
By Dr. Nicole LePera

Do Hard Things
By Steve Magness

Financial Feminist
By Tori Dunlap

Your Manifesting Year
By Joey Hulin

Your Best Year Ever
By Michael Hyatt

Happy AF
By Beth Romero

Rest Easy
By Ximena Vengoechea

Declutter Your Home
By Amanda Watson

The 12 Week Year
By Brian P. Morgan and Michael Lennington