2011
last 100 days
Countdown:
70 Days
Left
Day:30
21
October 2011
Occupy Baltimore, the Sexual Abuse Pamphlet, and What
Happens When you Make a Reporter Work For It!
I was reading yesterday’s (analog) Baltimore Sun and on the
front page was an article on the Occupy
Baltimore protests. If you read my 20
October post on the difference in Sun coverage of Occupy Baltimore versus
the results of a study on the Grand Prix, you know being on the front page was
not going to be good news for the Occupy Baltimore crowd. The article centers on a pamphlet circulating
amongst the protestors with guidance for victims of sexual abuse. It would have been nice for the reporter to include
a copy of said pamphlet, so the public could read it and come to their own
conclusions, but that did not happen, even though the “story” was spread out
over three pages, it seems there just was not enough space for that piece of
trivia.
At any rate, to the Occupy Baltimore folks I can only say,
‘This is what happens when you make the press work for it.” The earlier
piece already lamented Occupy Baltimore’s refusal to say how long they
would stay at McKeldin Square. Now you
get to see the other side of the coin, where a reporter, left to his/her own
devices, gets a piece of information and turns it into a story.
Reading the latest article, the reporter comes into
possession of the pamphlet not directly from any Occupy Baltimore person, but
by picking up a copy of the pamphlet after being tipped from a conservative blogger. Note
to Occupy Baltimore, “When you put together any document
outlining your official stance on anything, the media needs to get this
directly from you, first.” Anytime
the media gets wind of your policy through groups opposed to your cause, you
will be behind the power curve because the “reporter” is getting their first
impression through the lens of your opposition.
“Hey Cal, I thought reporters were supposed to be
objective?” You are so cute! While reporters, especially good ones will go
to great lengths to maintain objectivity, at least until robot
content farms become self-aware, reporters are all human, and humans are
all about first impressions.
While we don’t get to see the pamphlet in its
entirety, the article leads off with the following excerpt: “…members
of the protest group who believe they are victims or who suspect sexual abuse
"are encouraged to immediately report the incident to the Security
Committee," which will investigate and "supply the abuser with
counseling resources,” followed
by: "Though
we do not encourage the involvement of the police in our community, the
survivor has every right, and the support of Occupy Baltimore, to report the
abuse to the appropriate authorities."
After acquiring the pamphlet, the reporter distributed it to
“the heads of three rape crisis centers and
a nurse who runs the forensic division at Mercy Medical Center.” I wonder how that is going to turn out?
[They]”…called the message about not
involving police dangerous. They said it contains erroneous information that
could undermine efforts to convince victims to properly report crimes and get
the counseling they need.
"It might actually passively prevent
someone from seeking justice," said Jacqueline Robarge, the executive
director of Power Inside, a nonprofit support group that helps women who have
been victimized.”
While
not an unexpected response, the unseen benefit is the lesson Occupy Baltimore
could learn from this experience. While
still a nascent group determining their identity, the lesson here is that
despite what you may desire as a group (in this case to become a self-contained,
self-governed organization, according to the report), any part of the identity
determination that is public (or made public), represents a risk of
vulnerability that must be managed. The
takeaway here is to think about how your policies will play with established
social structure, and when policy is established, media outlets need to learn
of that policy directly from you, not filtered through your opposition.
Keep learning, people!
Goal: 1 hour per day working on the film
Details:
Watched Karen Everett video - "Assembling a Cohesive Narrative Arc"
Listened to karen Everett podcast - "Crowdsourcing Fundraising Campaign"
Total time: 60 minutes
Goal: 30 minutes solid musical practice
Details:
Warm-Ups on the MojoCaster
D-sus riff work
"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" - Living Colour Version
"It's Your Thing" - Isley Brothers
Goal: 15 Minutes exercise
Details:
30/60 Elliptical intervals
30 - >140 rpm
60 - >170 rpm
20 "Sets"
Total time: 30 minutes
Goal: 15 Minutes of score work
Details:
"Granby Street" - Vocal work smoothing lyric swap
"Dies Irae" - 20X straight through, then worked on adjacent string dyad climbs
R&B chord texture work
E - B/D# - C#m - A chordal texture work
Total time: 20 minutes
