Starting last weekend a group of protesters, numbering between 200 and at some times over 2000, has taken up non-violent protest on wall street. The protest is focused upon the corruption of corporate lobbying, the expanding wealth gap, and the bailouts of wall street even after they blew up the economy. Unlike many protests (read: tea party) the attendees are not homogeneous, spanning all ages and races, but there is a progressive slant to their views; perhaps this explains several of the unusual events surrounding this protest's coverage in the news.
A large number of protesters has essentially run a sit in on wall street for the last week, but where is the media? Twenty tea partiers show up at the white house and not only Fox news (read: faux news) but every other major media outlet covers it. Where has the media coverage of this protest been, and what possible reason could there be for the media to blackout this event. I for one follow numerous news sources, both liberal leaning and neutral, but the "neutral" media has near totally ignored this event. I don't care what they are protesting, hundreds of people in a sit in is news, even when you discount the disturbances at the rally by the police.
The right wing always talk about the "liberal media", but as this situation demonstrates, the media is corporatized and thus not liberal. The mainstream media has become focused upon profit rather than truth, thus the story which gets the most ratings runs even if it is irrelevant. Put plainly, right wing agitation over insane and incorrect issues is more interesting than a bunch of liberals protesting wall street. In addition to the profit motive overshadowing good reporting, the media is now biased for the rights of corporations.
Media sources which are corporate are effected by policy just like any other corporate interest. If wall street protests effect corporations, then media empires have a vested interest in suppressing the protests (or at least minimizing them). The other side of this issue is that right wing protests are covered more because they often support the rights of the corporations to do whatever they want.
Unlike the right wing tea parties and corporate funded protests, the occupation of wall street is a true populist movement without any interest string attached. If the mass media refuses to cover this event then the people must.
IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY, PLEASE TRY TO SPREAD THE WORD BY EMAIL OR WORD OF MOUTH.
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