Members of the public can record and upload their own footage without waiting for it to be collected by the mainstream press, and the network moves fast, leaving traditional media outlets rushing to keep up with the story.
From a Voice of America report -The Occupy Wall Street movement is taking its allegations of corporate corruption to the corporations themselves, accusing them of using a special lobbying group to buy off American lawmakers.
Pfizer, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company, is among the activists' targets. Protesters rallied at Pfizer world headquarters in New York this week, alleging it sometimes charges $50 for medications that cost five cents to produce. Pediatrician Steve Auerbach says consumers in Canada and New Zealand pay far less.
“Americans are paying from anywhere between two to four times the price for the same drug from the same drug companies as [in] other industrialized countries," Auerbach said.
A protester carried a briefcase overflowing with play money to illustrate the demonstrators’ contention that big corporations buy off lawmakers to gain unfair political advantage. The protesters, like Gabriel Johnson, focused on the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
“It’s an organization set up by these big corporations to try and get state legislators to vote their way on bills," Johnson alleged.
ALEC's web site says the council is a lobbying group that advances free markets and limited government.
About 200 Occupy demonstrators also protested against Bank of America, alleging that the financial institution profited by knowingly giving mortgages to people who could not afford them.
Then the banks foreclose on people's homes, says Occupy activist Anthony Robledo.
Occupy the Media
...More and more journalists, reporters and citizens sane enough not to write for a living are finding themselves facing a choice: do we accept and perpetuate the line handed down to us, or do we take responsibility for our own voice?
Pfizer, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company, is among the activists' targets. Protesters rallied at Pfizer world headquarters in New York this week, alleging it sometimes charges $50 for medications that cost five cents to produce. Pediatrician Steve Auerbach says consumers in Canada and New Zealand pay far less.
“Americans are paying from anywhere between two to four times the price for the same drug from the same drug companies as [in] other industrialized countries," Auerbach said.
A protester carried a briefcase overflowing with play money to illustrate the demonstrators’ contention that big corporations buy off lawmakers to gain unfair political advantage. The protesters, like Gabriel Johnson, focused on the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
“It’s an organization set up by these big corporations to try and get state legislators to vote their way on bills," Johnson alleged.
ALEC's web site says the council is a lobbying group that advances free markets and limited government.
About 200 Occupy demonstrators also protested against Bank of America, alleging that the financial institution profited by knowingly giving mortgages to people who could not afford them.
Then the banks foreclose on people's homes, says Occupy activist Anthony Robledo.
Watch live streaming video from occupyaustin at livestream.com
Occupy the Media
...More and more journalists, reporters and citizens sane enough not to write for a living are finding themselves facing a choice: do we accept and perpetuate the line handed down to us, or do we take responsibility for our own voice?
Distrust of the police, dissatisfaction with mainstream media bias and dissidents' hunger to control their own messaging is leading to a profound change in the way that protest is covered and reported.
Members of the public can record and upload their own footage without waiting for it to be collected by the mainstream press, and the network moves fast, leaving traditional media outlets rushing to keep up with the story.
The first videos of police violence against demonstrators at Occupy Wall Street in late September were recorded by a bystander and uploaded to YouTube. They went viral, changing the narrative around the fledgling occupation and forcing the mainstream media to respond to the public outcry.
Control of the agenda is no longer in the hands of the police or of the corporate press, and digitally enabled young people are forcing honest, capable journalists to up their game... - Laurie Penny, “The New Statesman”
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2011/11/press-police-media-journalists
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2011/11/press-police-media-journalists
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