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Augie Fleras | Ethnic and Aboriginal Media in Canada 148 problematic. Their potential as sites of conflict cannot be dismissed, particularly when homeland strife is played out in the ethnic press, with publishers suffering serious consequences when siding with the wrong faction (Nallainathan 2007). private public populist a)alternative b) ethnic c) aboriginal d) community logic escapist (Give consumers what they want) elitist (Give citizen what they need) Empower (give the community the power/ voices denied to them) Goal profit (market driven) public good and national interests Partisan: for the people, by the people, about the people function Entertain Enlighten Embolden – Adapt, Challenge, Transform scope Market niche via mass commercial casting universality (broadcasting) Narrowcasting - Untapped ‘minority’ Group perception of audience Consumer Citizen Community/minority ownership corporate owned general public taxpayer funded Locally owned/controlled/ produced programming content Safe/ routine/ familiar broad range with emphasis on high brow/ high culture Different news values (Give the people what the mainstream media ignore) Table 1: Media Institutions: A Comparison of Models The table above compares media institutions models - private, public and populist (Fleras 2003). On the left hand column are the criteria that provide a basis for comparison - albeit in highly idealistic terms and categorically rather than contextually. The three columns to the right provide the comparison. It should be noted that the establishment of the user-generated internet content suggests the possibility of a new personal media model, one based on the ability of ordinary citizens to create, distribute, and consume media products beyond conventional channels of creation, distribution, and consumption (Rennie 2006; Ojo 2006). To be sure, the distinction between mainstream and ethnic media may be overstated. Mainstream media consist of those private or public outlets that cater to the general public; by contrast, ethnic media are thought to specifically