Occupy Wall Street Media Coverage Increases Sharply, But Still Relatively Low Priority

Media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement has increased sharply, though the protests are still not at the top of the news agenda.

A study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center showed that seven percent of media coverage from Oct. 3-9 was devoted to Occupy Wall Street. That's four times as much coverage as the movement received the week before, and Pew says it is also roughly the same amount of coverage as the Tea Party drew in its first weeks in 2009.

The uptick in coverage was especially evident on cable news, where coverage increased twelvefold. MSNBC has thrown itself wholeheartedly into tracking the movement, sending multiple anchors to Lower Manhattan for live coverage. Occupy Wall Street has also provided ample fodder for CNN and Fox News.

Even so, Occupy Wall Street remains a relatively low priority for the media (where it was the fourth-largest story for the week, behind the 2012 election, the economy and the death of Steve Jobs) and for the public at large. Just seven percent in the Pew survey said that the protests were their top story, as opposed to 27 percent who were most interested in the economy. Also, the study found a lower level of broader public interest in the movement than in the Tea Party.

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Comments

[termgirl]

07:39 PM on 10/16/2011

The "media" is made up of basically,
six huge corporate conglomerates.
I doubt they'll give meaningful coverage
to an anti-corporate movement,
other than to mock them at every possible opportunity.

[pork]

09:47 PM on 10/14/2011

if the public cares about the economy then they care about #occupywallstreet. they just don't realize it. why do you think we're down there? it's the economy, stupid! :)

[Strywever]

06:08 PM on 10/14/2011

I notice the media also isn't giving much coverage to increases in homelessness, hunger, and the other negative effects of prolonged unemployment. They ARE covering bankruptcies some ... I guess because they affect business as well as people.

Maybe if the media started giving those issues the attention they deserve, the public might get more interested in OWS.

[paroxario]

05:08 PM on 10/14/2011

Nothing new, media corporations have always decided what we hear/watch/read in the media.

[Remember Remember]

02:12 PM on 10/14/2011

what they have are gun and the hope that when they're empty we will no longer be standing. beneath this uprising is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof.

[Simon Salosny]

12:16 PM on 10/14/2011

How about establishing a "Financial Crisis Weekly Report"? The US is on the brink of financial disaster. The media afraid?

[cowbore]

12:03 PM on 10/14/2011

They tried to ignore it so it would go away. It didn't.

[ethicsbob88]

11:47 AM on 10/14/2011

If they do not cover it they are missing history in the making

[den1953]

10:33 AM on 10/14/2011

Ok when the Tea party was discovered they had Fox news producers drumming up the crowds, every minute of the protests of the health care reform debate was covered by Fox news, the Republican law makers against the health care bill were interviewed numerous times by Fox news. Now that the OWS demonstrators are cutting into the Tea parties turf Fox News has no credibility among those protestors to cover the movement, as a matter of fact  the protestors are calling out Fox News. So now what is happening is the Republican backed Fox news is looking for Americans to enter the protests to find any deceptive way to report wrong doings among the OWS demonstrators! The agenda is simple for the conservatives disrupt those protestors and regain the media for political reasons, the sheep cannot be herded by the conservative masters if they question their leadership!

[Stuzzadelic]

10:24 AM on 10/14/2011

The Tea Party was created the day President Obama took office. It is fake - a right wing fabrication based on lies.

[workingboy]

09:42 AM on 10/14/2011

The talking heads on network news appear obsessed with the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. That seems more important.

[Gurinder Dhillon]

09:09 AM on 10/14/2011

Everyone in the media is part of the 1%, or they are on their to being part of the 1%, that's why they do not want to upset the balance of power before they feel they've gotten their fair share. What they neglect to notice is that less and less people are choosing to get their news regarding Occupy Wall Street from them; and they are hemorrhaging credibility from every orifice, it took me about 2 days of grinding through the news cycle to realize that the only press the Occupiers are going to get is negative press, which despite popular belief isn't always good.

[snipy]

08:58 AM on 10/14/2011

News Alert ! Some of the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd are being paid by big Unions and the obama administration to deflect the real problems in America; taking the spot light off the incompetence of obama's Failed administration !

[Nick Mages]

09:11 AM on 10/14/2011

Tin foil hats anyone?

[snipy]

12:51 PM on 10/14/2011

Try using Saran Wrap, you'll be able to breathe better.

[mavpay]

10:10 AM on 10/14/2011

What are the "real problems in America?" While you are "busy" engaging in "cartoonish" displays of ignorance, brought to by the corporate media, billionaires, millionaires, and their ilk, the standard of living for most people has been on a thirty year decline and the transfer of wealth has gone from the vast majority of people to a smaller group of individuals. 400 individuals have more wealth than 150 million Americans. If you are not among the 400, you may want to get new sources of information. Obama did not get us into this mess, and both parties responsible. The RepubliCONS, however, are more outwardly shameless in their support of this "heinous" system. If you really believe that the unions have more power than the financial fraudsters, then you are in for a rude awakening. Remember Citizens United!

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group. The liberty of a democracy is not safe if its business system does not provide employment and produce and distribute goods in such a way as to sustain an acceptable standard of living." Franklin D. Roosevelt

[snipy]

12:55 PM on 10/14/2011

Well "Mav", you have really made me "Pay" for my sins today ! All that "Spinning" spun me into a Coma ! I only hope you were wearing a bib to catch all that dribble.
PS, What's up with the cartoon bit ?

[Bombadillo22]

08:55 AM on 10/14/2011

"Media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement has increased sharply, though the protests are still not at the top of the news agenda."

The increased media coverage of Occupy Wall Street just happens to be convenient­--because the last thing their corporate overseers want them to report on is the fact that 'Tuesday night, every single Republican senator approved the filibuster and overwhelmi­ngly blocked The American Jobs Act from even coming to a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate.'

[Simon Salosny]

12:21 PM on 10/14/2011

Anybody aware of the 50% job projection stats for the coming year? The financial disaster already intitiated?

[youvebeenflagged]

08:29 AM on 10/14/2011

Rattigan is trying to co-op this message but he does not get it. He only likes to rant and rave maniacally while others take real action.

[Mickey1]

09:19 AM on 10/14/2011

Dylan Ratigan is a genuine supporter of the occupy movement. His "Get The Money Out" movement is real action. Ratigan understands the crimes of the Banksters. He does like the sound of his own hyper speed voice. I think it is great he uses his energy to point out how useless both parties are in correcting the disaster the Crime of the Century has caused.
http://www.getmoneyout.com/