Tactical media practices in Italy: The case of Insu^tv

<jats:p> This article focuses on two main questions that frame the status of contemporary Italian media: What happens when the democratic potential of the media is smothered by the cemented ties between television and politics? And how do alternative media initiatives in Italy engage this rapprochement of media and citizenship in the 21st century? This article addresses these issues by examining the origins and ramifications of one such initiative known as Telestreet project. The first part of the analysis traces the history and objectives of Telestreet as a bottom-up approach to broadcasting; in the second section, I focus on a Neapolitan street TV project, Insu^Tv, as a successful case in point of this activist approach to local media making; the last section of the article focuses on in-depth interviews with the activists behind Insu^Tv and their efforts to create independent communication tools and reclaim an active and activist role in the Italian media flows. </jats:p>