Be Careful Bloggers
The blogger had filed 20 or so stories surrounding Zuccotti Park and the denizens that make up its protest/movement. The various stories filed, and one story in particular, meant the reporter had developed a massive following on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. They’d been able to capture multiple incidents showing the NYPD violently barring non-violent protestors from remaining on privately-owned public space.
The overt violence displayed by the NYPD had been a major rallying cry for the protestors and for impartial observers around the world. The reporter had seen their popularity in the media and on message boards across the web rise with each new story, video and picture. In short, the reporter had become a sensation, much to the chagrin of New York’s finest.
One particular incident served as a microcosm for the reporter’s stunning rise in the media, but also for the rise of the #OWS movement as a whole.
A young NYPD officer had been caught pepper-spraying a small college student while she lay prone on the ground in a position similar to a crucifixion. The picture and video of the incident reverberated across the Internet with alarming frequency; quickly amassing over 5 million page views for The ___ ____ ________, hundreds of thousands of retweets, posts on tumblr and countless facebook fan pages. The YouTube video had shattered pervious records and now had over 2 billion views, with millions more each day.
There was literally no place on the web that didn’t showcase the story as a symbolic representation of all that was wrong with the OWS retaliation and at least part of the reason people were so encouraged by the movement while not really understanding its aims.
There was talk about awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to the young blogger, aged 23, still fresh from NYU’s undergraduate journalism program. Daytime and Nighttime talk show hosts called and emailed the blogger for numerous interview requests for statements, but all were denied. The young blogger always said the same thing when asked to comment: “No comment. I’m just a reporter—not the story.”
The girl who had been pepper-sprayed was a freshman at Oberlin, and unlike the reporter, she had graced the talk-show circuit for weeks, calling for others to join the Occupy Movement and take a stand against the power structures of America. Occupy movements around the country saw a surge in numbers and resources every time the girl appeared on television, and the reporter’s video and pictures were replayed for a nation of millions.
Major movie companies vied for the rights to tell the story, and both NBC and ABC were already developing television shows about the reporter and the victim. Zooey Deschanel was set to star as the aggrieved Oberlin student. Barbara Walters and Oprah interviewed the student, and she was writing an account of the historic picture to be published by Random House early in 2012.
All the largest publishing houses had offered money to the reporter to tell her story in a book. One advance was leaked to have been in the 8 figures. Still, the reporter refused to comment on the story or the video/pictures, and could still be found at Zuccotti Park and Foley Square—albeit in disguise since an innocuous picture from their facebook profile had been leaked.
During a time in America’s history where the future is shrouded in fear and the unknown, the young Oberlin student became a martyr for the movement and an inexperienced blogger came to represent the 21st century’s Woodward & Bernstein. Truth to power was and is the motto trumpeted by both the reporter and the victim of police brutality, and it’s be broadcast all over the world.
Last night however, the story took a nasty turn. While purchasing a Big Mac extra value meal at the McDonald’s just off Zuccotti Park, the reporter was approached by a young, off-duty police-officer in civilian’s clothes.
The officer, it turned out, was the one who had inadvertently pepper-sprayed the young Oberlin student. He had recently been reprimanded for his actions and faced expulsion form the force if found guilty of negligence before a review board of his peers. The department simply couldn’t handle another allegation of “protecting their own,” and the officer would be made to become a symbol for the NYPD’s new approach to the protesters and the cops near their demonstrations.
The conversation between the reporter and the officer quickly escalated and they ended up engaged in full-fledged fisticuffs while horrified McDonald’s patrons looked on. Even though the blogger was larger than most ___ ____ ________ reporters/bloggers, they were quickly over-powered by the police officer with a background in pugilism before he became an officer.
Eventually a couple of savvy McDonald’s customers recognized the incognito reporter from the circulated photo, and pulled the officer off them. The police officer sprinted out of the McDonald’s and the reporter left before they could give a statement.
No word on where the officer is now located, as he was still missing as of the filing of this story. The reporter has also not been seen or heard from even with repeated phone calls to their residence and emails to their employer.
We’ll keep you updated as the story progresses.
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asteakandmilkshake reblogged this from spencerlund and added:
Be Careful Bloggers
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