The Vancouver Observer does a stellar job of tracking the mainstream media coverage of Occupy since its inception:

The Occupy movement occupied two parallel, rarely intersecting universes in the corporate media. In one, described frequently in the Toronto Star, occasionally in the Vancouver Sun and Globe and Mail and only once in the National Post, Occupy is a worldwide movement created in response to the growing gap between the one percent at the top of the income-and-asset pyramid and the 99 percent below.

In the Occupy universe largely described by the other papers, Occupy is little more than a rag-tag bunch of ne’er-do-wells with vague—but nevertheless invalid—goals who need to get a job. Such a characterization may not be surprising given that almost all newspapers are owned by card-carrying members of the one percent.

A review of opinion pieces and editorials in these newspapers over five weeks suggests that if any journalist should receive an award for the most sympathetic and accurate coverage of the Occupy movement, it’s Pete McMartin of the Vancouver Sun, who persisted in focusing on growing income inequality, the real threat to democracy. He could be joined on the podium by the Toronto Star’s Joe Fiorito and many of Fiorito’s colleagues.

As for the most negative and hostile coverage, first place undoubtedly goes to the National Post thought collective, with Gary Mason and Margaret Wente at the Globe, and the Sun’s Craig McInnes following behind.

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