News & Media in Toronto written by Ian Chow:
It has been brought to my attention that many people believe that Occupy Wall Street is a bunch of poor people complaining that they can’t make money and that they’re trying to find blame on someone – the blame falling on the richest corporations and banks that are “screwing” them over.
Understandably, through no fault of our own (well, a bit), that many of us would accept that the protests are about just that – to varying degrees. “A bit” because we are all capable of doing more research to try and learn and understand what the protest really is about – but this article is to address the changes in narrative of OWS.
A suggested watch to educate yourself about how the narrative can change: OWS: Mocked: US media backs the banks, by RT. (OWS acronym for Occupy Wall Street. RT; Russia Today)
The most moving and explanatory statement about the relationship between the media and the protest is this: “Political machines and their PR slicks taking control of the protest message.“
It’s nothing new to realize that news has always been a little lopsided. But to what extent was changed in OWS narrative? There are many different reasons why the protests are happening, but the “dumb – down” and the easiest straw man argument to pin onto the protest is that: the people are frustrated because they are poor.
Using that argument, it’s so easy to say “go get a job” which 1) shows the protesters to be incompetent and can’t secure a job 2) shows they only whine and complain 3) they don’t understand how the market works and should not complain, amongst many other responses.
That argument (of being poor and complaining) holds little veritas, as there are many things that OWS stands for. But one thing OWS has been unable to do is to provide a clear message of what it’s actually about. It’s just so big, this entire protest. A few things I feel that can be covered spans from the bail outs, misuse of influential powers to control policy makers, to as far as conspiracy theories about the Bilderberg Group.
Essentially it has been broken down to this: OWS protest stands, in a nutshell, against Wall Street’s abuse of their monetary power (with many extended implications on the geo-political stage). Media portrays the protests as: poor people not making enough money and complaining about it. It has maligned, misinformed and censored the real reasons. From that change, OWS’s message has significantly decreased in power resulting in less organization from protest groups and unions and de-bunking any more potential resistance, change and reformation to the system.
With this type of power to change the message and narrative of one of the most profound movements in the past decade, it’s not surprising the media institution has been manipulating the message of OWS. We should keep in mind though: there is more than one side to every story.