How did the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement affect mainstream media (MSM) and vice-versa? In this post I will examine how MSM affected the ability of the Occupy movement to reach – and appeal to – a broader public. By analyzing negative media frames regarding OWS scholars argue that media framing influenced the representation of the Occupy movement’s message and weakened its broader impact. They present research which indicates that media coverage of OWS tended to frame the movement in negative ways: “aimless,” “frivolous,” “irresponsible free-loaders” and “dirty hippies” to name a few. Researchers noted the intense derision of the negative framing promoted by the MSM.

Framing works in conjunction with agenda setting, priming and media bias to shape public opinion.

Social media have become vital tools for political activists and protest movements, providing alternative channels for activism and the ability to gather widespread support. Twitter in particular has been identified as the most important medium for broadcasting messages to a global audience. Social media is intrinsically linked with social media through location-specific hashtags. The individual protests generally had a specific geographical focus, highlighted by the physical occupation of parks, buildings, and other urban areas, including Yale Park at University of New Mexico.

Portrayal of the movement differed greatly depending on the media source. MSM framed the movement as lackluster, dismissive and confusing, while ‘alternative’ news emphasized the strength and diversity of its protesters and demonstrations. Jeffrey Juris offers his perspective on the Occupy movement in Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social media, public space, and emerging logics of aggregation. His article explores the links between social media and public space within the Occupy movements. While listservs and websites helped give rise to the logic of networking within the movements for global justice of the late 90s and early 00s, Juris argues that social media have contributed to an emerging logic of aggregation in the more recent Occupy movements: one that involves the assembling of masses of individuals from diverse backgrounds within physical spaces. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

Researchers decried the movement’s failure to promote diversity among its ranks, which were mostly young, middle-class white kids. Sasha Costanza-Chock is Assistant Professor of Civic Media at the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT. In Mic check! Media cultures and the Occupy Movement he investigates media practices in the Occupy movement and develops the concept of social movement media cultures: a set of ‘tools, skills, social practices and norms that movement participants deploy to create, circulate, curate and amplify movement media across all available platforms.’

One of Occupy’s organizational tactics was a social media-driven “logic of aggregation,” reliant on “assembling of masses of individuals from diverse backgrounds within physical spaces,” Scholars claimed. It turns out that face-to-face contact is still one of the best ways to engage the public. “(T)he strategic challenge for #Occupy Everywhere is to develop more sustainable forms of movement beyond the physical occupations while addressing shorter-term political goals and longer-term cultural and democratic aspirations,” Costanza-Chock said. Successful social movements are about forming broad social alliances with like-minded people who are connected through a shared interest (or outrage) in order to affect some kind of positive social change. Multiple alliances can work together to produce positive outcomes on many levels.

In the wake of the forced evictions, the lack of a unified voice, goal, or vision coupled with the democratic mandate to make all decisions by popular consensus made it difficult for the Occupy movement to sustain any momentum.

Yet another victory for the Police State.