The Coverage Conundrum
Occupy Wall Street Needs to Stay Newsworthy
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The movement against the stark inequality of our population, created by the capitalist and corporate system, is occupying everywhere these days—including the
Twitter feeds, headlines and front-pages of almost every major news source.
But if the 99 per cent want their cause to keep making headlines, they’re going to have to stop occupying and start acting.
Initially, the mainstream press was criticized for letting the “occupy” protests fly under their radars, while the underground and independent press picked up the slack. What followed were accusations of left-wing bias and slanted coverage.
Regardless, the movement continued to grow and now the mainstream media is all over it, because it never went away (and props to the protesters for sticking it out until they turned some heads).
This weekend, “occupy” news was at the forefront of every major new source’s coverage—left, right, mainstream and underground—and last week the movement’s coverage quadrupled, according to Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.But do these protests really merit the front pages and cover photos they are getting almost everywhere?
Jack Shafer of Reuters says no. In a Reuters blog he writes, “My imperfect policy was this: If a demonstration created other news, I might be convinced to assign a story. But covering a demonstration just to cover a demonstration appeals less to me than turning my editorial pages over to a public service announcement about the opening of a spay clinic.”
He has a point. Usually a protest in and of itself isn’t news, but the action that comes from it is what makes the news or, at the very least, the specific call for action or the
demand for change. The outcome is newsworthy but, unless something extraordinary happens, the demonstration itself is only ever an element of the story.
One could argue that the fact that these protests have stretched across over 951 cities in 82 countries is newsworthy alone. Yes, maybe it is—but not for long. That fact has been printed and the story, like the protestors, isn’t going anywhere.
By Shafer’s standards, this movement really hasn’t created any other form of news.
Standing sedentarily in solidarity with no tangible demands is only going to be newsworthy for so long. If these occupations continue to exist with no further progress, goals or calls for action, they are going to find themselves off of the airwaves and out of print.
Occupiers would do well to realize that the world is watching them now, so if they are going to incite change they need to haul ass and do so before people turn away.
In my lifetime I cannot remember a time when capitalism, communism and equality, (or lack thereof) has ever been more widely discussed.
Last week the The New York Times posted a video of a Wall Street hippy and a Wall Street moneymaking-big-cheese discussing and debating issues in a café near Zuccotti Park in New York. Discourse between the one per cent and the 99 per cent is happening. That itself is an achievement.
This type of discussion is so valuable, and has the potential to be the beginning of progress—but the media won’t be telling those stories if nothing moves forward.
So, please, protestors: realize that if there was ever a time to think big, to use your numbers, or to actually make a change, this is it.
Viewers are watching. Readers are reading and media has all eyes on you—do something about it before it’s too late.
