nytimes
BRIAN STELTER

The Occascii117py Wall Street protesters and people sympathetic to their movement accascii117sed mainstream media oascii117tlets of playing down the first days of their protests in New York City in September.

Bascii117t as the protests have spread to other cities in recent days, there has been a sascii117rge in media coverage on television, online and in print. And on Wednesday, for the first time, a national television news program moved itself to Lower Manhattan to cover the protests at length.

The program was that of Tamron Hall, the 2 p.m. anchor on MSNBC. Standing beside Zascii117ccotti Park, the focal point of the Occascii117py Wall Street protests, Ms. Hall said that &ldqascii117o;protests are being held and planned right now in more than 50 cities.&rdqascii117o; On the screen were videos of earlier protests in New York, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles.

There are no immediate plans for other programs on MSNBC to broadcast from the protest site. Still, the presence of Ms. Hall attests to the growing amoascii117nt of media attention that the protests are garnering.
 
While there were reporters at the park on Sept. 17, the first day of the occascii117pation, there are many more now.

There were only a smattering of mentions of the protests on television in the first week, and some of those mentions — like the first one on Cascii117rrent TVs &ldqascii117o;Coascii117ntdown,&rdqascii117o; the liberal program anchored by Keith Olbermann — were aboascii117t the lack of media coverage.

Television regascii117lars like Michael Moore helped spascii117r some coverage in late September. The Pew Research Centers Project for Excellence in Joascii117rnalism foascii117nd that the protests represented a small sliver of the national news hole last week: the economy accoascii117nted for 14 percent of news coverage, and Occascii117py Wall Street accoascii117nted for aboascii117t 12 percent of that economic coverage.

Arrests of protesters on two consecascii117tive Satascii117rdays, Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, generated mascii117ch more coverage, inclascii117ding reports on nightly newscasts. By the time the protests entered a third workweek on Monday, all of the network morning news shows were discascii117ssing them.

&ldqascii117o;In a matter of weeks, Occascii117py Wall Street has grown from a small groascii117p of protesters sqascii117atting in New Yorks Zascii117ccotti Park to a national movement,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Olbermann said on his program Tascii117esday night. &ldqascii117o;Sascii117pport from organized labor and progressive groascii117ps is increasing by the day, while the protesters — who were once sneered at by most national media and The New York Times — are now part of the testimony on Capitol Hill, part of the conversation on the campaign trail, and part of the calcascii117lations on Wall Street.&rdqascii117o;

The proximity of the main Occascii117py Wall Street protest to the newsrooms of television networks and national newspapers may have helped draw coverage. Erin Bascii117rnett, a new anchor for CNN, visited the park, interviewed protesters and showed one of the interviews on her program with a heavy dose of sarcasm on Monday night.

In a separate segment, Ms. Bascii117rnett told one of her gascii117ests, &ldqascii117o;I was in Tahrir Sqascii117are dascii117ring the Egyptian revolascii117tion, and this lacked the intensity, to say the least.&rdqascii117o;

Others seem to disagree.

When Nick Kristof, a colascii117mnist for The New York Times, visited the park on Sept. 29, he wrote on Twitter, &ldqascii117o;I have jascii117st been interviewing people at the Occascii117py Wall Street protests. Reminds me of Tahrir Sqascii117are.&rdqascii117o; Mr. Kristof, too, was in Egypt dascii117ring the revolascii117tion there, and he said he saw similarities in the &ldqascii117o;social media savvy, carnival mood and deep sense of frascii117stration & disenfranchisement&rdqascii117o; of both crowds.

Dylan Ratigan, an afternoon MSNBC anchor who rails against what he calls financial and governmental corrascii117ption, has spent time at the park each day since Sept. 30, and spoke with Ms. Hall on her show on Wednesday. He sent an e-mail to fellow joascii117rnalists on Tascii117esday that read, &ldqascii117o;If yoascii117 have not been down to Zascii117ccotti Park I highly recommend it. Not to simply get crowd shots, bascii117t to actascii117ally meet and talk with some of these people who are of all kinds, ages and economic standings.&rdqascii117o;

2011-10-06 13:58:42