A continuing failure by the broader public sphere to account for Indigenous cultural needs has played a central role in the development of alternative media systems and alternative public spheres, including Indigenous public spheres. The significant differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous media process, form and content is further evidence for their existence. In this paper, I want to canvass some of the ideas around Indigenous media and research approaches that have begun to coalesce around Indigenous audiences in Australasia. It sets such media processes apart from the mainstream where the presence of a barrier largely remains a defining characteristic of the media-audience relationship.