Occupy Wall Street

Written by: Arlo Siemsen, Rebecca Barney, Joe Kuzelka, Morgan Jensen, Laura Jollie and Courtney Clark.

Alternative Media (Arlo Siemsen)

The Occupy Wall Street project started with a nudge from the Canadian group Adbusters rallying people to occupy Zuccotti Park in New York City to protest the growing income disparity between the richest 1% of Americans the other 99%. However, the planned protest may never have gained strength without the help of the alternative media and social networks such as Twitter, Tumblr, and blogs on the Internet. The power of the web to organize people and communicate and is immense.
On September 17th, the first day of Occupy Wall Street, an estimated 1,000 people attended to protest. Interestingly, the event garnered little attention from the mainstream media. Why not? Is the media biased against the message of the protesters? The owners of the mainstream media are all certainly in the 1%. If this had been a Tea Party protest rallying for fewer regulations on corporations, would the media have jumped on it more quickly?
  One form of the Occupy Wall Street protest is the stream of images continually posted to the “We are the 99 Percent” photoblog on Tumblr. The author of the blog coordinated the launch of the site with the beginning of the Occupy movement and invited members of The 99% to submit photos of themselves with a handwritten note about their situation ending in “I am the 99%.” Currently the wearethe99percent.tumblr.com site is receiving more than 100 new posts per day.

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    Some images from the Tumblr get to the point where I start to question how legitimate these people’s claims really are. At first I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this situation.

“Can’t afford to heat the house... My pet fish froze to death. He was the 99%.”

  The more I think about it, it’s probably true. If the house is not heated, pipes can freeze so why not fish bowls?  After realizing the truth of this girl’s situation, I felt even worse because I actually laughed at it. Her serious expression, combined with the red background and blue Post-it note make for a nicely composed image that effectively conveyed her message. I still can’t help but think that she must have laughed at least a little bit with “He was the 99%.”

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  However, many of the posts to “We are the 99 percent” are truly saddening -- such as this 2-year-old girl holding a cardboard sign. It’s pretty clear she didn’t make the sign herself, but rather an adult staged the photo to attempt to argue the viewer into a certen position. I think it’s quite effective in generating sympathy for her, her situation, and indirectly the adult who likely made the sign. People normally see homeless adults holding cardboard signs requesting money or food, but the little girls expression and the explicit naming of Kaiser as the corporation that helped put her in her current situation engenders hate towards them.

  During the Great Depression Government paid workers traveled throughout the United States to attempt to garner sympathy for the people most affected by the depression. During the Depression, we had no Internet or other means of and individual spreading mass information. Today we have a constant stream of images from the Internet that’s even more effective, because it also allows readers to respond through comments such as these.

“this is sad. hope those rich pricks enjoy stealing from children. This has to change, for her generation”

“I’d go downtown and get maced for this kid and the millions more like her. Just saying.”

BBC: Occupy Wall Street Clashes (Rebecca Barney)

  BBC reports to it's readers the status of six different locations of the occupy wall street movement. Within each location, BBC reports how many have been arrested during police clashes, and any new challenges that the location faces. The information is not organized due to locations, but is rather a mix of "facts" that are hard to connect without writing them out and listing them according to place to get the whole story together.
When speaking of the occupation in Nashville they stated that there was a new law enacted that prevented camping overnight near the Capitol, giving the reader a belief that the Nashville government is against the protests. The reader then, has to decide whether or not they support the government or the protests, a way of picking sides. BBC then goes on to describe the clash saying there were 75 police men that "surrounded" the camp during the night and "dragged" people to waiting buses. This description paints the police as the bad guys in the situation.
When BBC reported on the San Diego clashes, they described the clashes occurring when negotiations between the police and protesters broke down. BBC did not mention what the negations were about. They instead report that the police arrested 51 people and cleared out camp gear due to complaints of sanitary conditions. Negotiations could easily have been for the police to clean up the area, and protesters wouldn't comply with any solutions the police posed, so the police had to remove all the protesters by force to clean up the area. BBC is still playing the police as the bad guy in the situation. BBC then reported that Police said protesters could return after clean up, and without tents.
BBC also reported on the protester's preparations for the show storm on the East Coast. BBC reported that the protesters were coming up with ideas to cope and stockpiling donated coats and blankets. The protesters are naming it their "Valley Forge Moment" after the cold winter that George Washington spent fighting for independence. BBC reports this and thus glorifies the movement in the same way as the Revolutionary war. BBC also makes one mention of New York City's protests saying that the fire department confiscated generators and fuel saying they were a potential fire risk, thus painting the fire department as the bad guys. Also referring to the East Coast, BBC mentions that there were 2 protesters hospitalized for hypothermia during a snow storm in Denver, instilling fear for the protesters into the reader by proving that these "brave souls" are willing to risk hypothermia for their cause.

BBC lightly touched on the Oakland protests reporting that 50 people were arrested and one man was seriously injured by the name of Scott Olsen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15498098


Fox News (Laura Jollie)

Each news corporation takes a particular stance in how they broadcast news. Fox News is a media outlet that exports conservative cultural messages about the world into the surrounding public.  They’re known to influence political and economic aspects of today’s societies with their conservative reputation. Some say Fox gets it right, but more importantly they get it right-winged.

1. “Occupy Wall Street’ Protester Throws Violent Fit in McDonald’s When Denied Free Food”
→ Fox reports on a feisty protester who is angry because he didn’t receive free food from McDonalds. Fox is a conservative network and they believe that working and paying for your own food is the only way society operates and that everyone needs to work for what they get despite their situation. This story is perfect for Fox because it lets them focus on making the protester look psychotic and rather lazy. The theme reappears consistently that Fox is unconsciously against the protesters and more so favoring the big corporations.

2. “Occupy Wall Street: Get Real or Go Home”
→ Fox released a video of a writer from marketwatch.com who explains that the protesters of Wall Street are too busy complaining and are not proposing tangible solutions. They lack focus and a solid approach to what they are trying to accomplish by protesting. Protesters have made it clear that they are anti-corporation and anti-bank but they won’t accomplish anything until they come up with a concrete plan of what they are trying to win. The reporter seems to believe that they’re wasting their time until they address their solutions. In this case, Fox is more critical of the Wall Street protesters than the big companies that are making this whole thing happen in the first place.

3.  “Hey 'Occupy', Whatever Happened to Starting at the Bottom and Working Your Way Up?”
→ This article examines college students taking part in the protests who have received a undergraduate degree but are not getting the jobs they desire to pay back loans. Patrick explains that college grads are lacking humility and are unwilling to start at the bottom of the job chain. They blame the government and their own parents for instilling in their minds that a well paying job will be the outcome of a college degree, but for many of these grads that is not reality. The reporter is going after the college students and is portraying these young people as privileged snobs who expect everything to be handed to them. He is claiming that if students saved money for college at a young age, they wouldn’t be facing these huge debt problems.

MPR News (Morgan Jensen)
October 13th, 2011 - What one Hamline Professor Says about Education and the 99%

I am a college professor increasingly frustrated by the incredible debt I see college students taking on.
Rather than spending their time learning how to creatively solve the problems of the future, their debt forces them to think of education narrowly in terms of “what they can do with it.” Education was once considered a public good and not narrowly as a personal investment. As a society we need to return to more public investment in education. Education in the U.S. was once considered to be for the 99%.

  This article was also taken from Mpr, but from the Mpr News on Campus part of there site. Mpr took this picture from David Davies Facebook. Originally if you go back to the tumblr blog, we are the 99% it’s a blog of people in the dark, hiding behind papers saying that they are the 99%. Majority of them are very sad stories and a few of them are pity parties so that they can feel apart of the movement join the movement. What I like about this picture unlike the other ones on the site is that this professor is taking interest in his students and not talking about himself. He probably makes a fair amount of money being a university professor at Hamline yet he still takes interest in the problems that the average American faces.


October 17th, 2011- MPR News: Occupy Wall Street reaches 1-month birthday
Over the past month the Wall Street movement has spreed across the nation and even in to some parts of Europe. The Wall Street movement has made nearly $300,000 and has donations are being brought to the protesters. There are some protesters that want the movement to rallie around the goal while others insist that isn’t the point. Political parities are being pressured to weigh in on the issues. Hundreds of people have been arrested yet activist of the movement are energized by it.
The article was was posted on MPR’s website. The information from the website was compiled from several journalist who interviewed people from all over the country. The main point in the article was to share what the motives are behind the movement, to tell of the progress made, and to use accurate news from the people to share about  Occupy. The pictures shown is one of a bunch of hipsters sitting around, sipping some joe, wearing funky clothing such as head bands and big hats. There are tarps in the background along with backpacks showing that they have been camped out for a while.

See where you stand on the Global Rich List

FACEBOOK (Alternative Media): October 31st, 2011- A Global Perspective of the 99%
The picture I found on a friend’s facebook page. It was under the title, Another Perspective of the 99% vs. 1%. I looked up the source of the person who created the picture. Very simple picture, both pictures were probably pulled off of the Internet and copy and pasted into word then written 1% by the Occupy protesters and 99% by the starving 3rd world country scene. This picture was shared over 130 times, including one time by me even though I don’t know this guy.

The occupy wall street movement is addressing an important problem. The picture which I shared is addressing the issue on global terms. This picture could make the rich push the issue aside as if it doesn't matter because it's not as extreme but the poverty and the gap between the rich and the poor is something that needs to be fixed as well. There are issues both here and abroad that are huge problems that should not be ignored.

The Wall Street Journal (Joe Kuzelka)

‘Protest’s Money Problem’ by Andrew Grossman
One problem with the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest is money. Once a gathering of pissed off people with no resources now has a new problem: how to manage and spend nearly $500,000. Most of this money has come from donations. Everyone has an opinion on how the money should be spend. One option would be to apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. This would require the OWS protesters to name leaders. The OWS protesters had a meeting do decide if $2,000 should be used to make 92,000 promotional stickers. Questions like: Why do you need so many stickers? Why can’t you just use email? What will the stickers be made of? Isn’t it wasteful to stick  stickers all over the place? Would you consider using wheatepaste, an adhesive mad from vegetable starch? It’s obviously tough enough to make a simple decision like stickers. What about $500,000? The money will be voted on during a General Assembly. OWS does not exist to the IRS. The Alliance for Global Justice agreed to sponsor OWS. This means that OWS now has tax-exempt status. Now the Alliance for Global Justice’s board has the final say on spending. The Alliance for Global Justice says they will only intervene on spending if it jeopardize their tax-exempt status. OWS is working with lawyers and accounts to figure out how to deal with the money.

‘Latest developments in the global occupy protests’
Protesters in the northern states aren’t only battling police and politicians but the cold weather. Groups are collecting as many donated coats, blankets, cots, and military-grade tents as possible. They are collecting advice from homeless people who have joined the cause. Former Navy medic Michael McCarthy of Providence, R.I. states about the tent city across from city hall “our Valley Forge moment”. In Denver, two protesters were hospitalized with Hypothermia. In California, Alegations of misconduct and excessive use of force during Tuesday’s confrontation are being thoroughly investigated. A crowd of 1,000 people have reestablished their camp outside of city hall. In San Diego, 51 people were arrested. Police declared the protest unlawful and kicked them out. In Maine, a “feeling of mass injustice and inequality in America” march is gathering. In Nevada, “Wake me up when the American dream is over” was on many signs. Mostly protesting outside of different banks throughout Las Vegas. In New Mexico, at the University of New Mexico, the “1st Amendment Solidarity March is being held. 4 school officials were arrested. Their camp was closed based on safety concerns. In New York, about 400 protesters carrying some 7,000 letter of complaint marched in groups to offices of banks accused of corporate greed. These letters were collected through the occupytheboardroom.org website. Citigroup plans on reading the letters. Wells Fargo said it welcomed the feedback. “We recognize Americans are demanding more from their financial institutions during these difficult economic times” Wells Fargo spokesman Kevin Friedlander said. The NYFD inspected the camps at Zuccotti Park. Six generators and a dozen gasoline cans were voluntarily surrendered as safety hazards. In Oregon, Portland police say Occupy Portland has cost them $186,000 in overtime costs. In Rhode Island, Providence won’t physically remove the protesters after their three-day notice to vacate. In South Carolina, the unions are behind the OWS movement. The unions are helping fund OWS. In Tennessee, OWS protesters were cleared from their camp because they didn’t have the resources to babysit them. 29 people were arrested.

‘Occupying vs. Tea Party’ by Matt Kibbe
Tea party protests: “End the Fed” and “Stop Crony Capitalism”. Individual freedoms and property rights are the foundations of moral behavior. Individuals, with full ownership of their life, liberty and property, judge themselves and care about the positive judgements of others. “The most sacred laws of justice, therefore, those whose violation seems to call loudest for vengeance and punishment, are the laws which guard the life and person of our neighbor” wrote Adam Smith in 1759, “The next are those which guard his property and possessions” America’s tea party put it another way: “Don’t hurt other people and don’t take their stuff.” “Sacred Laws” mean our righteous indignation with bailouts, deficit spending and other government intrusions into your lives, such as the mandate contained in the recent U.S. health-care reform. Tea Partiers  oppose government forcing the responsible to subsidize the irresponsibility of others. Rioting isn’t helping the cause. Rioting is hurting the people we’re trying to help. Young people in Europe are facing the same problems which has caused rioting in Europe. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. Everyone has their own demands. 99% of jobless, angry and destitute.




New York Times (Courtney Clark)

November 2, 2011
  The occupy Oakland protesters have called for a general strike around the port in Oakland which is the fifth busiest in the nation. Even though there was a strike the port still remained open and only around 40 of the 325 workers did not show up for work and wanted to march around the port and shut it down. Mayor Quan hopes for a peaceful “boring” day. This strike around at the Oakland was billed as the nations first general strike since 1946. Other protesters were handing out leaflets saying “No Work. No school. Occupy everywhere”. During the strike other companies around the port were shutting down to support the protesters and there was only minimal police presence.

November 3, 2011
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City makes a statement of how he expresses the support of free speech while at the same time disagrees with the message of the protesters. The barricades that have stopped foot traffic along Wall Street have finally come down and everyone has been praising Mayor Bloomberg as all shopkeepers around the area are happy that now they can get their customers back. This was only short lived unfortunately as the barricades went back up since the protesters came full force back to the streets and the police were worried that something may arise.

November 4, 2011
Occupy Oakland had a clash between the local police and the fringe protesters when a few things got out of hand. More than 100 protesters were arrested and injured along with a few officers being injured. The port of Oakland was temporarily closed because the situation got more out of hand than expected. The reason for things getting out of hand was the result of objects being thrown at officers and declared the protesters unlawful and the police fired tear gas into the group. There were large disagreements within the group, which is what escalated the situation, but in the end all protesters helped clean the damage that they caused.

November 5, 2011
Different occupy groups around the country have been influencing trends in different countries around the globe. All these new occupy groups that are popping up around the world are welcomed and/or tolerated by their fellow citizens who are not participating. The next expected occupy group to come about is expected to move into the Iowa caucuses, which will be a real change for the presidential arena. Mayor Bloomberg is juggling free speech and civic peace while at the same time remaining wary of police excesses. The whole occupy movement is heartening for Americans suffering lost opportunity and clueless political leaders.




Comparing the Alternative Media to the Wall Street Journal (Arlo Siemsen)
  The “Latest developments in the Occupy protests” article on the Wall Street Journal details updates of some of the various Occupy movements around the World. Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal didn’t even write the article it came from the Associated Press. While the article is mostly filled with facts about the ongoing protests, the presentation of the opening sentence is interesting:
  Thousands of Wall Street protesters marched in the streets of Oakland on Wednesday as they geared up with labor unions to picket banks, take over foreclosed homes and vacant buildings and disrupt operations at the nation's fifth-busiest port.
The article completely focuses on the negative effects of the protests and portraying the protesters and a group of homeless people invading empty buildings. The article also focuses on a gradual slowdown of the protest’s momentum by discussing the impacts of the cold weather  and electrical power shutdown at Occupy locations.
  The alternative media, usually consisting of individual people posting to Internet sites provide a very different view on the situation. On-the-ground information is constantly being uploaded to the web, and some locations even have live video streams set up. There are frequent uses of the human-microphone technique used in the protests (one person leads and everyone else repeats) because of the restrictions on speakers put in place by police.
The Associated Press through the Wall Street Journal provides a general information about the many protests going on around the world, while the alternative media focus on individual situations of protests. When people read the pages individual accounts of whats happening it’s far more powerful than the grand overview and statistics provided by mainstream media such as the Wall Street Journal. Lumping people into statistics reduces the force behind the news, while individual social media gives insight directly into peoples lives. The Internet-based alternative media gives makes the situation feel more powerful and real to the reader, something that the world’s governments are afraid of.

Comparing the BBC to the Alternative Media (Rebecca Barney)
  BBC’s perspective on Wall Street is that the protesters are right, even when they may not be. BBC argues for the protesters against the government and police force, and even the weather. When compared to Alternative Media, BBC seems to almost be behind the times. With access to the Internet, protesters are able to spread their message and their arguments faster then the great corporation that is BBC. They are at a more personal level then the over all “fact listing” that BBC gives that is only based off of events. BBC does not record WHY the protesters are out there as much as BBC records WHAT is going on out there. With individual messages of why they are protesting they argue for themselves with a different perspectives shaped by personal experiences. With this individuality, no overall perspective can be made and readers are forced to make their decisions by the variety of what they are exposed to and where they agree with each individual story.

Comparing Fox to the New York Times (Laura Jollie)
  New York Times began in 1851 and was founded by a Republican Chairman and former banker. They believed that conservatism is essential to the public, but they will remain radical no matter the circumstance. Their claim is that everything in society is not necessarily right or wrong, it is just a matter of what we desire to preserve, remove or improve in the news. Newsprint is their main way of output, but they also have internet access to their stories. NYT has been around a very long time and has covered numerous pinpointing joys and sorrows throughout history. On the other hand, Fox is a news outlet based in New York that began in 1996 and is known primarily for television broadcast, rather than newsprint. Both of these news corporations could be portrayed as right winged, but Fox is deliberately more conservative, as where New York Times is more neutral. New York Times holds a gold standard in news coverage around the globe because of the longevity of their existence.  Because they have been around so long, New York Times typically can gather reports from various sources around the world and that gives way to many opinions in their stories. On the other hand, Fox holds a greater importance to American citizens because it focuses on issues within the United States. In this Occupy Wall Street event, these two news stations vary in the way they produce their stories. New York Times generally sympathizes with the protesters and the big corporations. They see both sides of this argument and report on each side equally. Fox takes sides with big businesses and reports against the protesters by writing stories that negatively reflect the 99%.



Comparing MPR to Fox (Morgan Jensen)
  MPR’s view on the wall street, I believe is, neutral. MPR tends to show raw information and facts. When reporting on issues such as the wall street protest, they give direct quotes from what protesters are saying. They talk to several different people to bring different sides of the story. They don’t see the movement as a bad or good thing but instead ask for the people to show their opinion of the action.
On the other hand, Fox news is highly conservative and biased in their reports. They portray the protesters as lazy because they are poor. Occasionally, they display the movement as dangerous and the protesters as people who are up to no good. Their negative view of the movement is causing other people to see it as negative too.
  For example, as Laura mentioned before in her first article, Fox focuses on making the protester look psychotic because they are angry because they aren’t getting free food from McDonald. In my second article, by MPR, it said that even though many protesters are being arrested they are energized by the movement and have done many things to move forward in the movement by raising money and collecting food for protesters. Overall Fox focuses on portraying the negative stories of the protest, perhaps maybe dramatizing things a bit as well, while MPR keeps the stories neutral by providing raw information and first hand accounts.


Comparing the Wall Street Journal to MPR (Joe Kuzelka)
  Going from ground zero to a Midwest state is quite a jump. People in New York City know what is going on with Occupy Wall Street first hand. While us Midwesterners are listening to the stories being told.
  The Wall Street Journal is a very internationally known newspaper. The Wall Street Journal has many articles about the OWS movement from all over the nation and the world. The Wall street journal has writers that have specific columns where they have the freedom to write about whatever they desire. These writers can go into depth on the issue and take the issue where they want to go. They have a sense of how the OWS movement is going from an eyewitness basis. They seemed to have a voice about the issue that sounded as if the issue is being dragged on.
MPR is Minnesota Public Radio. This being a local source, not may people outside of Minnesota know of it. MPR has a sense of a liberal voice. Minnesota being a liberal state. These points of view come from the average Minnesotan. These are average people giving their 2 cents on the issue. They are not professionals, journalists, or policitans. They are just normal folks.
OWS is being portrayed by both sources as an uprising this nation needs. It's a reality check for the nation. People are sick and tired of the economic status of the nation. OWS is sending a good message to the nations political leaders. Hopefully pressuring them into taking action.


Comparing the New York Times to the BBC (Courtney Clark)
The way that The New York Times is portraying this whole occupy Wall Street situation as very neutral. They have not seemed like they are taking any one's side but from the articles I have read they seem like they are in some support of what the protesters are doing but also have sympathy for the other side (police, mayors, city officials, etc.)  BBC reports the occupy situation from six different spots around the country reporting what is going on from each one. They seem to be very neutral as well about the situation since they are viewing it as outsiders. The New York Times has been known for being one of the more prestigious news sources since its start in 1851 since their motto is “All the News That’s Fit to Print”. They are very respected for their opinions are considered pretty non-biased when coming to world events. The BBC on the other hand is much more focused on global events since it is the largest broadcaster in the world. While covering much of the world events, the main areas that the BBC focuses on are the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. Being the worlds largest broadcaster the BBC does not have the means to send out print media unlike the New York Times, so their main outlets of getting news to their viewers are television, radio and online.


Who ultimately controls the media? (Laura Jollie)
Media sets the agenda and whom ever controls the media, controls the agenda. News corporations play a big part in society and what we think about or what we believe.  The gigantic corporations are in control of what is streamed to the public and what is deemed important.  They have the choice to hide information or exaggerate news at any time they please. The mass media shows us an image of the world and then tell us what to think about that image and through this they can manipulate viewer’s thoughts.