[OccupyComms] A few thoughts on media relations

[Standing Stone]

Hey Occupiers,

Just a few thoughts on media relations from my experiences at Occupy Bath. I only represent myself. The media love good stories, sure some of them may have their own agenda, but the Occupy Movement is still big news, and many newspapers etc., particuarly local ones where there is an occupation, are hungry for stories. Every press release we've sent to our local paper has been printed, mostly in full, and sometimes slightly edited. We're doing their jobs for them. Also, we've started sending them pictures, as they've been using the ones taken on the first day for weeks now - hopefully some of these will now be used. Letters from occupiers and supporters have also been printed, and have inspired people to come down and see what is happening. Unfortunately the headlines of the letters have sometimes been a bit a bit misleading, such as a recent letter where they took words from two unrelated sentences and formed the headline "I'm not an anarchist - I've worked hard all my life"! They also printed our manifesto in that letter, so people who read it had a better understanding about why we are occupying. What we've achieved is to keep our point of view in the local press, rather than let it become dominated by anti-occupy viewpoints. Despite the fact that our local rag is owned by the Daily Mail, most of the articles have ended up painting us in a good light. 

Also, as we as a group have decided to support the strikes on Nov 30th, we have e-mailed many of the local unions with messages of support and invited them to the camp after the march in Bath, which conveniently ends just round the corner from the camp. We've also sent messages out to other campaign organisations, such as the local Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Amnesty groups, Bath Stop[ the War Coalition and the local Green Party (no-one seems to have serious objections to them at present, and they've been very good to us) asking for support to keep the camp running. 

Despite this, we are still short on people and packing up soon after the strikes is still on the cards (to be decided for certain on Monday night), and we are still appealing for other occupiers who feel their camps have enough people to consider relocating to Bath, even for a short while.

Best of luck with your occupations,

Standing Stone
 		 	   		  
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