The OWS roadshow came to my hometown of Northampton. The NYTimes covered their visit. Still unfocused. I stand by my original criticisms that OWS needs 1) a spokesperson and 2) run candidates for office.
There’s a debate to be had about all this. OWS has essentially been trying to do wide-scale “anti-PR” for months, which makes sense considering it was spearheaded by an organization (Adbusters) that actively scorns a traditional approach to advertising and PR. My own opinion is that you can’t just assume taking an adversarial approach to traditional PR is a smart PR move on its own. But on the other hand, they’ve done anti-PR just long enough at this point that they can say it’s won them some success, possibly enough to feel that they don’t need to go with Plan B. But in case they change their minds, Jesse LaGreca certainly seems like a good choice. — Ernie @ SFB
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Reuters vs. Reuters: News agency makes an ass of itself by trying to connect George Soros to Occupy Wall Street.
But some Reuters people realize it, and call their company out!
Reuters then backs down, changing the story line on its report. Or does it? [more]
Jay Rosen has really shown his value as a media commentator in the past few weeks, and this piece is another example of that. We didn’t shout loudly about this story earlier, but we were confused as to why Reuters ran it. One person responded to our earlier piece, which asked aloud if it was worth Reuters’ time to report an in-depth investigation on this topic, by suggesting this: “Responsible journalism requires checking of ALL claims, not picking and choosing which to follow up on.” Maybe so, but in this case, perhaps there was a point where someone could’ve said after doing due diligence, “this isn’t a story, and it’s not worth our time.” Because, let’s face it, connecting tens of thousands of dollars indirectly donated by a billionaire a couple of years ago seems silly when you consider that two other billionaires notably give millions of dollars each year to a similar movement. It’s a revelation that puts this story in sharp relief — a sharp relief that isn’t even mentioned in the original article.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt15tfPX9f1qzbwu1o1_500.jpg)
Reuters vs. Reuters: News agency makes an ass of itself by trying to connect George Soros to Occupy Wall Street.
But some Reuters people realize it, and call their company out!
Reuters then backs down, changing the story line on its report. Or does it? [more]
Jay Rosen has really shown his value as a media commentator in the past few weeks, and this piece is another example of that. We didn’t shout loudly about this story earlier, but we were confused as to why Reuters ran it. One person responded to our earlier piece, which asked aloud if it was worth Reuters’ time to report an in-depth investigation on this topic, by suggesting this: “Responsible journalism requires checking of ALL claims, not picking and choosing which to follow up on.” Maybe so, but in this case, perhaps there was a point where someone could’ve said after doing due diligence, “this isn’t a story, and it’s not worth our time.” Because, let’s face it, connecting tens of thousands of dollars indirectly donated by a billionaire a couple of years ago seems silly when you consider that two other billionaires notably give millions of dollars each year to a similar movement. It’s a revelation that puts this story in sharp relief — a sharp relief that isn’t even mentioned in the original article.
According to disclosure documents from 2007-2009, Soros’ Open Society gave grants of $3.5 million to the Tides Center, a San Francisco-based group that acts almost like a clearing house for other donors, directing their contributions to liberal non-profit groups. Among others the Tides Center has partnered with are the Ford Foundation and the Gates Foundation.
Disclosure documents also show Tides, which declined comment, gave Adbusters grants of $185,000 from 2001-2010, including nearly $26,000 between 2007-2009.
Aides to Soros say any connection is tenuous and that Soros has never heard of Adbusters. Soros himself declined comment.
Adbusters, which launched the campaign in its magazine, says it hasn’t gotten any money from Soros, but would take it if offered. ”George Soros’s ideas are quite good, many of them,” founder Kalle Lasn (who the story refers to as a “she” even though he’s a man) said. “I wish he would give Adbusters some money, we sorely need it. He’s never given us a penny.” What’s your take on this story? Did Reuters really need to check these claims?
Sent to us via Twitter user Eric Brown, this five minute clip from last night does a good job capturing the mood of the still-budding protests near Wall Street in New York City. “This is a group of passionate, concerned, and intelligent people,” Brown writes. “Their behavior in the park suggested a great appreciation of democracy, and a desire to cut through the clogged media and political channels to communicate a message they feel is incredibly important.” Brown notes a large police presence was there when he shot this last night, but both sides were peaceful. Great clip. source
The method of protest that we’re using, the purpose is to interrupt the flow of Wall Street.Occupy Wall Street protester Joe Sharkey • Revealing that the group’s purpose is to make it difficult for workers to get around the protesters — a method that will see its first real test tomorrow, when an actual work day hits. While the protest has remained largely peaceful, things could start to get thorny in the next day. Starkey says tomorrow is a “crucial period” for the group of roughly 1,500 to 2,000 protesters. ”We are going to ride and coordinate and communicate,” he said. “The process takes a long time.” The protests, put together by anti-consumerism magazine AdBusters, have been planned for a number of months. source (via • follow)
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