Newsbusters - Bozell Column: Protesters Occupy the Liberal Media

Bozell Column: Protesters Occupy the Liberal Media

By Brent Bozell | October 11, 2011 http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-bozell/2011/10/11/bozell-column-protesters-occupy-liberal-media

When the Tea Party movement erupted in the spring of 2009, the media elites dismissed them as corporate-generated “Astroturf” noise. They found them barely worth covering, even to besmirch them.

But when the “Occupy Wall Street” protests began on September 17, the liberal media was quickly bombarded with complaints from the Left that the media were ignoring this massive “news” story. NPR executive editor Dick Meyer said the early protests “did not involve large numbers of people, prominent people, a great disruption, or an especially clear objective.” So the protesters went out and blocked the Brooklyn Bridge and drew 700 arrests – voila, a national story.

Contemplate this: the “Occupy” folks drew more broadcast network stories in the first nine days of coverage (24) than the Tea Party drew in the first nine months (19).

NBC’s Michelle Franzen was the first promoter – okay, she calls herself a “reporter” – on the scene. "Protesters fed up with the economy and social inequality turned out en masse over the weekend,” she announced on “Today” on October 3. “Voicing their discontent and marching for change." Her expert source, Columbia professor Dorian Warren, dutifully proclaimed the Wall Street protests were "a liberal version of the Tea Party" that “could potentially carry over into the 2012 elections and get people to the polls."

So let’s get this straight. The protests were like a stumbling little fawn trying to find its legs. They’d been in existence for about two weeks, and NBC was already suggesting the “potential” for what the Tea Party achieved in 2010 – a massive Democratic wave election in 2012. Journalists are either easily impressed or very energetic practitioners of wishful thinking… http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-bozell/2011/10/11/bozell-column-protesters-occupy-liberal-media 

20111011 Bozell Column Protesters Occupy the Liberal Media

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