Draft press release 10-18

[hz]

In advance of the PR Working Group meeting and any other Working Group report backs I thought we ought to get at least something basic out there to the media. So I drafted something very basic and as open as possible. I would like to send this out to press contacts today, barring any strong objections.

As follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


DATES: October 21, 2011 – onward
TIME: Occupation opens at 12 noon. General Assembly commences at 5pm.

LOCATION: Academy / Lafayette Park at State and Eagle St.
Albany, NY
CONTACT: Public Relations Working Group
WEB: www.occupyalbany.org
EMAIL: [e-mail]*


DESCRIPTION:

Occupy Albany General Assembly Announces Decision to Begin Albany Occupation

ALBANY, NY – October 18, 2011 – In the last month, the message of Occupy Wall Street has won the hearts and minds of over half of Americans (according to a recent Time survey) and is gaining ground globally. At the Albany General Assembly on October 16, it was agreed through the consensus process that Occupy Albany will formally join in support of OWS with the commencement of an ongoing occupation of Lafayette Park in Albany, NY. The gathering will begin at Noon on Friday, October 21. The first General Assembly of the occupation will convene at 5pm.

This release will be followed by subsequent releases as Occupy Albany Working Groups report back.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT IS OCCUPY ALBANY?: We are a movement in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. We have organized to challenge entrenched power and privilege. We are fed up with how our country is being run. We want fundamental and lasting change. We want to engage other citizens on how we might fight back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. We are looking forward to a nation where every person has an equal voice and equal access regardless of income bracket. If you make less than the top 1% of Americans we are part of your voice.


Occupy Albany is built on the examples set by Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Together movement. Our focus is on the economy and the corporate corruption of our political system.

*We do not have a spokesperson. We are a people’s movement. We provide a contact address for ease of communication only.

[chrismac]

hezzie, this looks good, but i would edit down the what is occupy albany section to make it more concise. you also MUST add a name and phone number to the press release. and remove the line about the contact address being for ease of communication only. that isn't going to work. again, i understand the GA process, but i think we can all understand how ESSENTIAL it is that we take PR super seriously right now.

that person(s) must prepare him or herself for the onslaught of response with a clear, concise message. that person must think strategically about being entrapped into saying something they didn't mean to say. seriously. it happened to me last week with the state. that person must be willing to go on camera, and must be available/flexible to do this.

i don't think the press is going to be interested in getting a press release every time a working group announces back to the GA their progress. what you will want to do is send another series of releases friday morning re-announcing the commencement. friday evening--"after the first day/how it went" and each time something significant happens in NYC or around the world to let local media/people know OA's position and response. and anytime anything significant happens in albany you need to issue a release.

even though this is a "press" release it should be used to send to non-media groups at the same time as you send it to the press...ie, unions, student groups, local activist groups, etc. obviously having a master list of contacts--email group, whatever--will make it easier for you to accomplish all this quickly. then you only need to worry about.
writing the releases and responding to emails and phone calls. i have a few more contacts to send you. hopefully before noon i can get you the rest of the people from last week.

good luck. i will provide whatever support i can, but i cannot attend the GA on friday, nor can i attend a PR working group meeting this week. my husband is going out of town and i have two kids to care for. however, please consider me as a resource for support.

[jk]

Two things:

1) We should state up front that this, by concensus, is a nonviolent movement. It could help down the line.
2) It misses the key word "corruption." Job one is to wake people up to the fact that our political system, economic system, legal system, environment, media, etc., have been corrupted by people and organizations with economic power. Please don't shy away from that word.

[theancientflack]

While we don't have a spokesperson, I agree that we should have a phone number. Cheap pay-as-you go phone that could be rotated among the willing and able every day or two?

[hz]

Thanks team!!

I will make the above suggested corrections.

-Hezzie

[oehlda2000]

I echo what chrisMac says.

[chrismac]

hey again,

has it gone out yet? hope so. jk's idea about the non-violent part is very, very good. also send to police, state troopers, city council people, etc. hope you had a good day and made some progress...