Over the last nine months, I have
witnessed three phases of mainstream media coverage of the Occupy
movement. Phase one was a near-total blackout.
During Occupy Wall Street's
first two weeks, the silence of the major news outlets was deafening.
My social media networks were exploding with written and video
coverage from alternative media about the growing uprising in lower
Manhattan, but there was virtually no mention of the occupation by
the for-profit news chains. During the media blackout phase, the few
articles about Occupy Wall Street were either tiny blurbs that
downplayed the seriousness of the uprising, or mocking stories that
portrayed occupiers as silly idealists and spoiled brats.
At
about two weeks in, the media environment changed considerably. The
demonstrations in New York were beginning to spread to other cities,
and it was clear that this was a movement that even TV news could not
longer ignore. We launched Occupy
DC around this time. In those early days at McPherson Square, we
were swamped by reporters from around the world. Even then, the
foreign press was far more interested in covering Occupy than US
broadcasters were.
During
this phase of rather intense coverage by the major news outlets,
there was a consistent push to define the Occupy movement in terms of
the existing two-party, corporate state. Some insisted that we were
the Left's response to the Tea Party. Others claimed that we were the
heirs of the anti-globalization movement of the 1990s. Still others
insisted that we were really a radical wing of the Democrat Party,
working to advance Obama's tepid agenda on Capitol Hill. Each time,
we shook our heads: "No, it's not about that at all. We want to
live in a world that none of the existing parties or structures are
offering us. We seek a society where living communities are valued
more than corporate profit." But most journalists refused to
hear this. Perhaps they simply could not wrap their minds around a
movement that was more interested in fundamentally changing our
culture than in seizing political power. For whatever reason, most
reporters are still trying to fit us into their constricted political
landscape, into a narrow worldview that sees things primarily in
terms of Red and Blue, Left and Right.
Once
the Occupy encampments were either dispersed by police or stopped
being sexy, the mainstream media's posture shifted once again.
Perceiving that the end of the urban encampments was the death knell
of the movement, the corporate news outlets have entered into the
third phase of their narrative. They were unable to silence us by
ignoring us, and they ultimately failed to shoehorn us into their
narrow, two-party story. The corporate news outlets have now turned
to the only tactic left in their repetoire: They are trying to bury
us.
This
is the only way that the for-profit media can restore order. The
Occupy movement has challenged the binary political worldview that
forms the basis of their reporting. But if the corporate-sponsored
press can consign us to the past - declare us journalistically dead -
then they can begin to mold our legacy into a shape that reinforces
their assumptions. After all, if we are "dead," then they
no longer have to even bother interviewing us. Dead movements cannot
talk back.
This
is ultimately about control. Who controls the narrative? What is the
nature of the society we live in? Are there alternatives beyond the
two-party binary that increasingly delivers the same result? Are we
doomed to accept the evil of two lessers? If the corporate media has
its way, it will reinforce the fractured of our nation: a country
divided and conquered by corporate interests who would love nothing
more than to see us bicker about partisan politics while they buy up
both sides of the aisle.
Make
no mistake about it: This is not over. The mass demonstrations of
last fall were only the first phase in a new movement for economic
justice and grassroots democracy. If "the Occupy movement"
refers to the tactic of public encampments as a means of mass
protest, then yes, that movement has had its time. But if by "the
Occupy movement" you refer to a generation's cry against
injustice - if it represents our desire to live in a society where
the dignity and political voice of ordinary people is no longer
trampled by elite interests - then I can tell you that the Occupy
movement is alive and growing. If the Occupy tactic
has passed its expiration date, the Occupy ethos
is more relevant than ever.
How
can we allow our passion for economic justice and grassroots
democracy to infuse all areas of our lives? How can we transform our
existing institutions - our workplaces, faith communities, unions and
local governments - into structures that more fully embody the ideals
of transparency, accountability, compassion and mutual respect? What
would it look like to break out of the us versus them
mentality that has infested our national consciousness? How can we
walk forward, together?
2 comments:
The 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate from Benedict XCI is a comprehensive document that manifests a thoughtful review of the problems of our time with an aim to offering solutions to resolve them. As Occupy expresses like concerns, reading the encyclical might give insight, order, and direction to the movement, or at least be a starting point. For example, paragraphs 46 and 47 discuss the relationship between business and ethics, and the pope advises "a broad new composite reality embracing the private and public spheres, one which does not exclude profit, but instead considers it a means for achieving human and social ends." There are ideas in this document that are useful because they present alternatives to the catastrophic habits that we take for granted.
Nicely said. Hope folks can participate in person or online at the Occupy National Gathering starting next weekend in Philly. Www.occupynationalgathering.com #natgat
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