Today I was involved in a Twitter debate over the protest that's going on in Lower Manhattan. Hundreds of activists have gathered on Wall Street to protest economic disparity and the principle of "profit over and above all else".
The protesters are copying the Arab Spring by using social media like Twitter and YouTube to spread word about what's going on - and to mock or criticise the mainstream media for inadequate coverage. Jeff Sharlet, an author and political journalist who writes for Harper's Magazine and Rolling Stone, engaged with some of these criticisms.
"#takewallstreet, I love u," he said. "I'm not trying to belittle u. I know a thing or two about what editors get. Stories, characters, music."
A guy from Brooklyn who goes by @sickjew pushed back, accusing Sharlet of trying to lead the protest from his armchair. "It's not your story to tell from afar. Thousands are reporting from the scene. You'll need to step back."
A few months ago I might have been entirely on the side of the activist. The mainstream press doesn't have the greatest track record for covering protests (or at least protests that don't involve the Tea Party), and it's exciting to see how social media changes the dynamic of reporting.
But now that I have a little experience with how journalists and editors operate, I can see where Sharlet is coming from. He was advising the activists on how to get their story on the front page of tomorrow's paper, by finding simple messages and narratives that would appeal to readers.
In my discussion with him, @sickjew didn't have much patience for the mainstream press. His view seemed to be that young people using social media are running the show now and everyone else needs to get on board or be left behind.
Which is true to a point. A poll by the Pew Research Center shows the internet is closing in on television as Americans' main source of national and international news, with 41% saying they get most of their news online.
However, television is still the main source of news for 66% of Americans, and it will be a few more years before the Internet overtakes TV for people aged 30 to 49. And as Sharlet pointed out, ignoring the mainstream press excludes people who aren't online, including seniors, the poor, and people in rural areas. "I write on politics for Rolling Stone," he said. "We have a lot of readers who are prisoners [who are] not up on social media."
These are just the sort of people who are hurt by economic inequality and might be interested in the #takewallstreet story - if, of course, the story is told in a way that connects with them. And that's what journalists like Sharlet are trained to do.
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