New risk for Occupy Wall Street: less media interest

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by DonGlock26, Oct 25, 2011.

  1. DonGlock26

    DonGlock26 New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2010
    Messages:
    47,159
    Likes Received:
    1,179
    Trophy Points:
    0
    New risk for Occupy Wall Street: less media interest


    [​IMG]

    (Reuters) - "Occupy Wall Street" is occupying less space in TV broadcasts, newspapers and social media as the story settles into a familiar pattern and protesters dig in for what could be a protracted fight.

    While the movement's reliance on Twitter and Facebook to spread its message is well established, it has also benefited from becoming a media curiosity, at times drawing legions of TV crews and reporters to its encampments. Coverage fed on itself, as more people joined in more cities.

    But experts say the protests are now making a natural -- yet challenging -- progression off the front page and cable news, as new events like the death of Muammar Gaddafi take prominence.

    Any loss of the limelight, especially when the onset of cold weather has already started to reduce the ranks of protesters prepared to camp out overnight in lower Manhattan, could dampen the momentum of the movement.

    "Without the oxygen to fuel their fire they're very much at risk of losing relevance," said Daniel Tisch, chairman of the Global Alliance of Public Relations & Communication Management, a confederation of national PR societies.

    To some extent, even the protesters agree they are likely to get less attention as time goes by.



    [​IMG]

    "People know what the general storyline is," said Senia Barragan, a protester from New Jersey acting as a spokeswoman for the occupation when not working on a doctorate at Columbia University. "I think they're moving on to other stories."




    The loss of media interest is the latest roadblock to Occupy's momentum.

    Experts on social movements have said the protesters need a "second act" of sorts as fatigue sets in and as cold weather starts to descend on New York and other protest sites.

    In the days leading up to a series of worldwide protests on October 15, there were practically as many reporters as occupiers at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan -- to the consternation of some protesters, who started charging to have their pictures taken.

    But with more than five weeks gone since the concrete plaza was first taken, the media's fascination with the story has started to wane.

    DOWN SHARPLY LAST WEEK

    The Pew Research Center produces a weekly News Coverage Index, which charts what percentage of total news coverage across dozens of outlets is taken up by a variety of topics. In the week ended October 16, coverage of Occupy Wall Street peaked at 10 percent of the total "newshole."

    But last week it fell sharply to just 4 percent of news coverage, according to the latest version of the index, about the same as the mass release of exotic animals in Ohio.

    Other data also support the finding. The Factiva news database shows 18,341 mentions of "Occupy Wall Street" in the week ended October 23, down 19 percent from the week prior.

    While mentions rose daily during the week ended October 16, the numbers declined steadily the following week. From October 17 to 23, the number of daily uses of the phrase fell by more than half.

    Even on those social media platforms that have been a backbone of the Occupy protests, there is less attention now.

    Trendistic, a website that lets people monitor Twitter trends, shows clearly that the "#OccupyWallSt" hashtag has been declining as a percentage of overall hashtag use worldwide since October 15.


    The same holds for other popular tags of the movement like "OWS" and simply "Occupy."

    TV data is harder to come by, but anyone who has spent any time at Zuccotti Park over the last month can tell there are fewer TV operations than there were before. On Monday morning, there was just one satellite truck and a small handful of foreign camera crews.

    Media watchers said all of these changes were to be expected in the context of what has been an extremely busy news year thus far.

    "There's a lot of other things going on. This could just, instead of being front page news, be relegated ... further in the newspaper than the front page," said Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at Horizon Media.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/25/us-protests-idUSTRE79N61O20111025



    What are the OWS AW's going to do, when people paying attention to them? What if that Turkey earthquake takes the limelight? What if Obama kills some more third world people for centrist votes?
    Perhaps, the sexual assaults are a way for OWS to stay in the headlines?

    _
     
  2. RichT2705

    RichT2705 Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2008
    Messages:
    28,887
    Likes Received:
    4,821
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    It's being seen for the embarrasment that it is. Bunch of rich kids not giving their money to the other 99%...bunch of celebrities not giving away their fortunes...all the while prattling about this 1% of the "rich". Pfffft.

    Honestly, what sounded like a legitimate cause in the first hours, has now become an absolute farce. Noones going to waste news time on a bunch of spoiled Liberals just dying to have a cause to camp out and interfere with others.
     
  3. RichT2705

    RichT2705 Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2008
    Messages:
    28,887
    Likes Received:
    4,821
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Winter is approaching, and news time wont be the only thing dwindling away IMO.

    We will soon see this cause limp off behind a bush and die, as all the hippie Libs go back home to sip their lattes and eat their free range chicken sandwiches.

    Lets see what kind of resolve they really have once the snow starts falling.
     
  4. Mad Conservative

    Mad Conservative New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2011
    Messages:
    1,481
    Likes Received:
    328
    Trophy Points:
    0
    And it's a big fail too. The cause they were dying to have was the tea party and they just couldn't muster it.
     
  5. xsited1

    xsited1 New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2011
    Messages:
    1,816
    Likes Received:
    211
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Guess Obama finally figured out that aligning himself with the OWS "movement" was a bad idea and gave the media their marching orders to stop covering them.
     
  6. DonGlock26

    DonGlock26 New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2010
    Messages:
    47,159
    Likes Received:
    1,179
    Trophy Points:
    0

    They aren't the soldiers of Valley Forge, that's for sure.


    _
     
    RichT2705 and (deleted member) like this.
  7. DonGlock26

    DonGlock26 New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2010
    Messages:
    47,159
    Likes Received:
    1,179
    Trophy Points:
    0
    That's the best part. They wanted a TP, and they showed their arse to the nation. More epic fail from the Left.


    _
     
  8. DonGlock26

    DonGlock26 New Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2010
    Messages:
    47,159
    Likes Received:
    1,179
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Could be.

    _______
     

Share This Page