Media

Is This New Website the ‘Huffington Post’ for the Occupy Movement?

David Sauvages Occupy.com Promises to Be the Huffington Post of the Occupy Wall Street Movement

Operating within the framework that the Occupy movement needs to speak for itself and cannot rely on the mainstream media to provide activists with a balanced portrayal, one New York filmmaker has created a website that is now being dubbed “The Huffington Post” for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

What is perhaps most ironic about this moniker, however, is that many consider the Huffington Post’s overall coverage of the Occupy movement to have generally been favorable thus far.

Regardless, a contingent of concerned citizen journalists and film directors saw a void they claim needed to be filled. Enter Occupy.com, a non-profit news-aggregation site which promises to provide a dedicated platform to all things Occupy. With the help of Hollywood backing, the site launched early this week to much fanfare as a party held at a trendy Manhattan bar marked Occupy’s arrival to the web. So high was the anticipation among activists in fact, that New York Magazine reported ”the line was half-a block long” by the time the venue had reached full capacity.

According to Occupy.com’s “About Us” section, the site is an independent non-profit consisting of “a small but growing group of dedicated occupiers working in solidarity with the movement.”

Offering an open invitation to journalists, musicians, photographers, painters, filmmakers, poets, game developers, cartoonists and podcasters, Occupy.com states it is “striving to become an open platform, where everyone can post and everyone can curate.”

David Sauvages Occupy.com Promises to Be the Huffington Post of the Occupy Wall Street Movement

A glance at the “Read” section of Occupy.com offers fairly predictable content. Features on the upcoming Occupy May Day demonstrations, as well as stories on general strikes occurring in Spain, race and gender issues within in the Occupy movement and a “letter from the student walkout for Trayvon Martin,” are currently available online. The site also features a series of links to promotional affiliates including an Occupy media pamphlet series by renown Antisemite and Holocaust denier, Noam Chomsky.

David Sauvages Occupy.com Promises to Be the Huffington Post of the Occupy Wall Street MovementThe site, staffed by six editors, was spearheaded by David Sauvage. Interestingly, Sauvage also happens to be a protege of controversial documentarian and movie director Davis Guggenheim, who recently came under fire for his 17-minute-ling “docu-ganda” heaping effusive praise on President Obama while offering no criticism to provide balance.

A portion from Sauvage’s bio reads:

Before Occupy, David made the documentary “Carissa,” about a young woman who turned her life around. The film was Executive Produced by David’s mentor, Academy Award-winning Davis Guggenheim, and licensed to Current TV. David’s next films “Kweisi” and “Soundcheck,” explorations of poetry and jazz fusion respectively, engage viewers through original combinations of animation, music and graphics. [...] On the commercial side, David has directed pieces for clients that have included Maybelline, Bon Appetit Magazine, Nivea for Men, Hugo Boss and the Wall Street Journal (irony noted). David has an MBA from UCLA and a BA from Columbia University.

But despite his seemingly well honed directorial skill set, Occupy.com still required funding that, for reasons unknown, was not provided by Sauvage’s mentor or even Current TV. Instead, seed-money for the operation was provided by 61-year-old Hollywood producer and lawyer Larry Taubman, who purchased the Occupy.com domain name for a hefty yet undisclosed amount. Poking fun at this obvious irony, media watchdog group MRC dubbed the endeavor: “Occupy.com — A gift from the 1 percent.”

Sauvage launched his career by producing a television commercial for WSJ, the glossy magazine of the Wall Street Journal. But the 31-year old, who has been involved with Occupy Wall Street from its very beginning, caught Taubman’s eye only after directing an Occupy promotional spot entitled “Occupy Together!”

The video is featured below:

“I’d been waiting for when that next generation was going to arise and basically reclaim their future,” Taubman told Josh Harkinson with the progressive website Mother Jones.

“It was very clear that the Occupy movement needed a way in which it could speak for itself, and without having to do it through the lens of other media.”

Interestingly, Harkinson learned of the site’s impending launch via a public-relations firm “that has also represented Dolce & Gabbana, Dona Karan, and Bergdorf Goodman” – companies not exactly related to what one would consider part of the Occupy-crowd. The author went on to write:

The following week, I met Sauvage and his partners at the Awareness Experiment, an event at New York’s über-hip Bowery Hotel that brought occupiers together with a crowd of supermodels, socialites, and celebrities including Sean Lennon, Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl, and Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny and a star of X-Men First Class).

Yet such an elite cast of characters hardly seems to fit with Occupy’s overriding, anti-capitalist, anti-materialistic agenda. According to the MJ report, this is precisely Sauvage’s point as he seeks to market his site to those outside the Occupy movement, more so than to those inside the movement. The goal, according to Sauvage, is to show outsiders what Occupiers are truly all about.

 

Decision by committee… or not?

What is perhaps most ironic about Occupy.com and its founders is the site’s entire management structure and operating style. As noted in Mother Jones, the site “is not beholden to the General Assembly, the Occupy movement’s fractious consensus-based decision-making body.”

Michael Levitin, formerly a foreign correspondent for Newsweek and Forbes is overseeing Occupy.com’s text-based content. Levitin, who co-founded the pun-intended “Occupied Wall Street Journal,“ ceded that ”having a group that is small enough and efficient enough to get things done kind of required an isolation from the time-consuming, consensus-based process that the rest of the movement was working with.”

In other words, Occupy.com’s editorial board functions as it would in any privately held business whose management retains independent discretion and in this case, editorial autonomy. It is this very autonomy that allegedly has certain Occupiers worried:

One early collaborator, the filmmaker Katie Davison, told me she parted ways with Occupy.com in part due to concerns that it was “concentrating too much power in the hands of the curators.” (She still counts herself as a supporter.) “Some are worried” that the site is too “top down,” notes a veteran OWS organizer who asked not to be named, “but are willing to give it a chance.”

Sauvage claims he is acutely aware of the push-back and will do all he can to assuage the fears of naysayers. Occupy.com states it is supported “by a combination of donations and volunteerism” and that while there is “no GA or Spokes Council overseeing us” they are “morally accountable to the movement as a whole.”

Still, for those who prefer to operate and make decisions by committee in the centralized planning model of the former Soviet Union, free enterprise is a concept that will likely not go over well with the Occupy masses.

David Sauvages Occupy.com Promises to Be the Huffington Post of the Occupy Wall Street Movement

Comments (40)

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  • tiredofprogressives
    Posted on April 5, 2012 at 12:04am

    I hope everyone strikes and strikes for a month. This would shut down all tax revenue going to the government. Victory will be ours!

    Report Post » tiredofprogressives  
  • Daveed
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 10:37pm

    WND EXCLUSIVE
    “Hillary supporter’s untold Obama horror stories
    Allegations of intimidation, manipulation, sudden death”

    Interesting article on http://www.wnd.com also Fox News Megan somebody interview Sheriff Arpaio. Government DOJ/OBAMA suing Sheriff and if he sues Sheriff he is suing the American people! Kick the failure out of office.

    Report Post »  
  • SamIamTwo
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 9:19pm

    “is not beholden to the General Assembly, the Occupy movement’s fractious consensus-based decision-making body.”

    And last year it was being run as a collective…or rather trying to run like a collective…seems they are not all on the same wave length…it was a given that they would have to move those little doggies along…Moooo

    And yes I frequented their forums often…so I can watch to see what is going on…pretty sure that window will close up also…

    Report Post » SamIamTwo  
  • macpappy
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 9:08pm

    Hell, I thought this was HuffPost’s new web site.
    The only thing conservative about TheBlaze is the posters. The stories by large seem to all to be a back door way to give you the conservative reader the lefts talking points on a daily basis.

    Report Post » macpappy  
  • spirited
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 8:03pm

    What was George Soros doing in 1963? Anybody know?

    >Just curious.

    Report Post » spirited  
    • Paul
      Posted on April 4, 2012 at 11:07pm

      Holding up liquor Stores…

      Report Post » Paul  
    • teddrunk
      Posted on April 5, 2012 at 9:46am

      In 1963? He was dreaming the National Socialist Party he helped during WW2 was coming back to life.
      Helping kill Jews was the happiest time of his life.

      Report Post »  
  • Tallbriar
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 7:36pm

    Snowleopard,
    I think most of us quiet folks out in flyover country know what’s coming down the pike. Lots of us are ex-and current mil., ex-and current leos, and just plain “grew up watching the cancer spread” voters. Don‘t see much sense getting too worked up over stuff we can’t change until the “time is right”. We work, pay taxes, raise our kids on the Bible and real history books(kind of hard to find these days) about the Founders and the Constitution. We have been making provision for what appear to be unavoidable rough times coming. There are a lot of informative websites to glean and we do that too.
    When we were younger, we tried the CPUSA, SDS, motorcycle gangs, street gangs, and all the other stuff that stupid kids do. But most of us loved and still love our Republic. We survived combat, discovered faith, and lived long enough to outgrow the kids stuff and became adults with responsibilities, most of us, anyways. Now, all that said, the Ayers, and Dorhns and Jones types had a chip then and carry it today. But, what they don’t realize is this: The dopes that are following them today don‘t have the steel to carry out what they’re hoping for. Once the real pain comes, the useful idiots are going to flee real quick. Then guess who’s going to be standing there with their pants down in plain sight? Then I reckon we’ll eat cake. I just hope all you great folks out there don‘t give up on us quiet ones and think it’s hopeless and all. We’ll be po

    Report Post »  
    • raspberrytea
      Posted on April 4, 2012 at 10:50pm

      Amen! There’s alot of us quite ones out here. We realize what
      is going on. I know several whom read the Blaze and
      other sites and never comment but feel the way
      most on here do.

      Report Post »  
  • TheObamanation
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:54pm

    I wonder what the REAL percent is. I’m not part of the 1% … so I’m part of the 99% … But … I don’t believe like the OWS crowd does … what percent of the country feels like these dead-beats do ? Is it more like 10 % ?

    Report Post » TheObamanation  
  • Rhiboat
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:47pm

    Baseball bats not just for baseball anymore lololololol

    Report Post » Rhiboat  
  • sWampy
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:43pm

    We are headed for some dark, dark times. Hail Obama.

    Report Post »  
  • 70S_KIDS_FIGHTING_SOCIALISM
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:35pm

    Here come more RAPES and MURDERS from the drugged out zombie commies.
    TEA PARTY UNTOUCHABLES!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Report Post » 70S_KIDS_FIGHTING_SOCIALISM  
  • Thevoice
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:34pm

    This was written in 1963 ..I only wish Glenn could begin to understand that the communist used the civil rights movement as a way to set up the framework for commie bill of rights through the new deal..All of which are the bones to the skeleton being given muscle and skin today from “The new age progressive communist” right to the closet commie in the White House…We will be approaching desperate times as the Spring and summer offensive from the communist begin in earnest .http://www.commieblaster.com/dl/Communist-Takeover-America.pdf

    Report Post » Thevoice  
  • kilwil888
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:30pm

    So the OWS have a website…who cares? Are they being honest about how they are using drug addicts, rapists, ‘Peep’s Who Like To Poop’ on police cars, (well actually everywhere…LITERALLY), pedophiles molesting kids, robbery, murder, peeping OWS, showing naughty body parts to kids, etc?. As long as those people are getting free stuff and a place to crash, they will stay and fight forever. Some are getting paid to protest! While the so called 99%ers are in crappy tents, the elite faux OWS (1%) go stay in nice hotels. This whole thing is just a SHAM. It’s a vehicle for Van Jones and Soros (1%ers) to start a VIOLENT revolution then fade to black (PC people, black is being used as a metaphor) when the party starts! Then they’ll stroll in to take control.

    Report Post » kilwil888  
    • barber2
      Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:43pm

      agree. Civil unrest. Like Bill Ayers said : They want to start a revolution . Very obvious. They hope to “draft” onto the London riots and the Arab Spring. All of the International Left is working behind the scene .

      Report Post »  
  • barber2
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:28pm

    I smell Soros. Hope these little anarchists get a nice visit from Anonymous . Using the system to destroy the system. Freedom of speech and the press being used to destroy our freedoms. Who raised these cretins ? They are our domestic terrorists. And, unfortunately, Holder is in charge of the DOJ.

    Report Post »  
  • MeteoricLimbo
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:22pm

    You can paint a turd but you cant hide the stink

    Report Post » MeteoricLimbo  
  • let us prey
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:17pm

    I am the 99% they say. They are college grads they are transgendered they have no experience and they are afraid to look for a job. Pathetic candy a $$ es with their self pity. I heard they dropped their fisting logo for a big O. No surprise there, this is part of obumblers reelection plan. Pathetic slugs.

    Report Post » let us prey  
  • BeingThere
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:13pm

    Un-American motherfrakers!! I wish we could deport them all!!!!

    Report Post » BeingThere  
  • youdidthis
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:09pm

    Government Engaging in Every Crime Imaginable
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NohgaC9a3cU&feature=relmfu

    Report Post »  
  • Juniemoon
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:07pm

    Doesn’t look like too many people are interested in the occupy whine streeters.

    Report Post » Juniemoon  
  • youdidthis
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:06pm

    IRS Insider Joe Banister Exposes Federal Reserve Coup and IRS Fraud
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEL2uOG9Jrc&feature=relmfu

    Report Post »  
    • spirited
      Posted on April 4, 2012 at 7:42pm

      Thanks for the link to INFOWARS.COM

      >wow (in a low whisper)

      Report Post » spirited  
  • youdidthis
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:04pm

    UN Brainwashing 10 Year Olds About Sex, Abortion and Pedophilia
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-Cl-wWL1Io&context=C401b8a3ADvjVQa1PpcFNMRzNgHU7ndVPY1PycurQe3g_A8GJabQY=

    Report Post »  
  • kickagrandma
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:02pm

    JESUS, I am so sorry YOUR great heart is breaking over our failures. YOU have told us it is not the actions, words, deeds of YOUR enemies that wound YOUR HEART, but rather the words, deeds and actions of those who follow YOU, the turning of our backs to YOU, of the betrayal of those who say we love YOU. You probably aren’t going to find us in the occupy movements, LORD.

    My heart hurts, too, GOD. It seems that no matter what we say or try to do, no one here is listening. Thank YOU, GOD, for listening, for caring, for seeing what we try to do in YOUR name. Thank YOU for forgiving us when we fail YOU over and over again. Thank YOU for YOUR courage to love our enemies and to keep fighting YOUR fight. We turn over the lost ones to YOU, FATHER GOD. They will not hear us.

    We love YOU, GOD. Thank YOU for the opportunities to stand for YOU, to pray without ceasing and to rejoice in these days that YOU have made just for us.

    In JESUS’ PRECIOUS AND MIGHTY NAME, amen.

    Oh, and GOD, YOU won’t find us at the hufferpuffer post either.

    Report Post »  
  • Mark0331
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:00pm

    Laughable Socialist propaganda….silly children, devoid of any grasp of history and the ‘consequences’ of their ideolgy. They actually think they will be the ones to make their hodge podge of ‘communism/socialism’ work….foolish ignorant ‘useful idiots’. Down the rabbit hole they go…

    Report Post » Mark0331  
    • CatB
      Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:10pm

      Amen .. first thought also was “useful idiots” .. they are being used and played and are too stupid to know it .. thanks in large part to the public school system.

      Report Post »  
  • COFemale
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 5:53pm

    Wow, a site where all the losers can go and be together. Isn’t that special

    Bless their little hearts.

    Report Post » COFemale  
  • AvengerK
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 5:52pm

    Oh yeah…this should win OWS more public support..like “Under the blue tarp”…LOL.

    Report Post »  
    • Anamah
      Posted on April 4, 2012 at 6:04pm

      How propaganda can make attractive for some even infectious ferments.

      Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on April 4, 2012 at 5:47pm

    Let the socialist communist traitors madness continue to spread and the poison will weaken us more and more.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
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