Chicago - A message from the station manager

Occupy CNN

By RT

1. “It took some time but much of mainstream media is finally showing up to report on the movement that started as Occupy Wall Street and is spreading, across the entire country and even the entire world, to what some are calling Occupy Everywhere.
“But one network seems to not have gotten the memo – CNN, also known as ‘the most trusted name in news.’ They have instead been covering the other ‘Breaking’ news, like Michael Jackson’s doctor’s trial, Amanda Knox’s tearful thank you and Paul McCartney’s wedding.”
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“But what about intrepid reporter Anderson Cooper? He’ll surely pitch a tent with the rest, right? After all, he went to Haiti and Japan after their major earthquakes. But alas, he’s been too busy with his new daytime talk show, interviewing Paula Abdul and learning how to brush a dog’s teeth.”



2. “While the mainstream media criticizes the demonstrators for being anarchist hippies, corporate media outlets don’t actually go into the crowd that much to listen to what the frustrated people have to say.
“Reporters go live from across the street. TV satellite trucks are on stand-by for violence and arrests. The independent and foreign channels are the ones covering the important issues from within the action.”
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“They are going to chop up whatever you say, and they are going to leave the truth on the cutting floor, and they’re going to run with whatever pushes their narrative,” said protester Jesse LaGreca.
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“Little interest in substance or analysis has been shown, like exploring why Americans have been driven out onto the street.
“When they’re like, ‘Why are you down here?’ And I say, well, the name of the protest is Occupy Wall Street. I think Wall Street has something to do with it,’ said Jesse LaGreca.
“Media coverage peaked when arrests started taking place.
“‘After there are clashes, then there is media interest, and that’s when all the major networks seem to get kicked in,’ said camp volunteer Aaron Wynhausen.
“‘They openly mocked protesters here as dirty hippies, uneducated fools and drug addicts and potential criminals – and they don’t know what they’re talking about, frankly,’ said protester Chris Cobb.
“Some of the bigger networks prefer to keep their distance from the demonstrators. It’s mostly the independent and foreign media who are deep in the action.
“‘It’s really funny. Every day at around 4.30 in the afternoon, TV trucks start arriving from every different channel. It’s like when one black bird lands, they all land, and they’re all here to do what used to be called SLRs – silly live remotes for their 6 o’clock broadcast,’ said media critic and filmmaker Danny Schechter.”


Comments welcome.

1. From Steve Rhodes:
Even more fascinating is that the media is largely run by Baby Boomers who have come to venerate the protests of the 60s, even though the vast majority of those who now look back fondly on them and have scolded generations since for their alleged disinterest in political activism simply did not participate. Funny that.
Our protests good; your protests bad.
(And truth be told, the demos of the Occupy protests seem to skew older . . . )
Equally fascinating is how much the media venerates pro-democracy protests in foreign lands while ridiculing those right here in the good ol’ U.S.A. Funny that, too.
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And in Chicago, all those pundits (and editorial writers) who for years have blamed voters for political corruption and stasis, demanding that outrage become visible . . . well, here it is! No, the Occupy movement isn’t protesting TIFs and Jon Burge (largely left by the dailies to the Reader anyway), but something even larger than shenanigans in the water department.
And public pensions? What about private compensation packages? This is your outrage – and I, for one, am happy to include the Tea Party in it too.
See also: Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America

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Posted on October 13, 2011