Occupy The Media

Indymedia

Following on from my last post about the mainstream media coverage of the ‘Occupy’ movement I’ve also been following developments from other sources such as the Occupy London website itself and Independent media site Indymedia.

There has been a noticable  difference between mainstream media reports, which have been few and far between, and the Twitter feeds and Facebook updates from Occupy London and coverage on Indymedia which have shown a lot of interest and general support for the movement.

The support shown by St Pauls itself has been withdrawn and they have asked protestors to leave quoting health and safety and hygiene issues but the Occupy London website has commented on this – take a look at what they said. Personally I think there will have been pressure placed on the church at a high level and of course they stand to lose financially which really shouldn’t be a churches main concern.

The main criticism seems to be that the protestors are jobless but when you think about it, people in full time emloyment simply can’t do this without risking losing their jobs – although plenty of protesters have been self-employed and many are students or graduates who have little prospect of a job ahead. Instead of criticising the protestors we should be thanking them for standing up for us.

Of course now Gaddafi has gone the mainstream media will gratefully concentrate on that. Whether they will even bother to mention that a second camp has been set up in Finsbury Square, London, remains to be seen – in fact there are many more ‘Occupy’ events going on nationally and internationally than are reported. Of course the violence in Athens has been reported because fires and fighting are more newsorthy than a peaceful worldwide movement … aren’t they?

Know any other media sources? Let me know.