Commodifying Alternative Media Audiences: A Historical Case Study of theJewish Daily Forward

Abstract

Der forverts, or the Jewish Daily Forward, was one of the most significant and influential alternative newspapers in U.S. media history. Through an examination of archival materials, I demonstrate that the commodification of the Forward's content led to the production of its readership as a commodity audience. Key leaders at the newspaper aimed to rationalize the contradictions between maintaining a socialist newspaper central to an oppositional political movement and the need for advertising revenue. This entailed reimagining the audience as ethnic consumers rather than working-class socialists. This history highlights long-standing contradictions that the alternative media must reconcile between serving counterhegemonic interests and institutional demands within a capitalist political economy.

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