In current discussions of the democratization of media production, of ‘we the media’, where everyone is a journalist, everyone a publisher, the focus has been on digital culture. Yet in the shadows of this explosion of digital-led creativity and media making, there has been a resurgence in the production of one of the oldest forms of media, the small-scale independently owned printed magazine. These magazines are being made by the young ‘digital natives’, informed and aided by digital literacy, but the medium of choice remains print. This article aims to describe and define these independent magazines (indies), distinguishing them from DIY zines, fanzines and mainstream niche consumer magazines. In their choice to rejuvenate rather than reject print, the indies allow us to explore the appeals of medium specificity and material culture, and how some of the current themes of media democratization – digital and design literacy, Pro-Ams, the DIWO ethos – are played out in this renewal of ‘heritage’ media.
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