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Even without an idea what the goals of the Occupy protests are, no one can deny the extraordinary amount of media coverage they are getting.  

The Occupy movement in which PCC students and teachers are participating has changed the national conversation in a mere six weeks.

One of the central goals of the protests has been to increase public awareness of the issues it has raised.

In this respect the protest have been wildly successful and we all will benefit from the discussions it has sparked.

According to the Occupy Wall Street website, over 100 cities nationwide and over 1,500 cities internationally have protesters participating.  

Some have turned violent in places like Oakland with police shooting tear gas.  Protesters have been arrested in cities from Portland, Maine to San Diego.

According to the Pew Research Centers Project for Excellence in Journalism, the economy and the Occupy movement accounted for 25 percent of the national news coverage last week.  

This is this most media attention the economy has received since President Obama’s job speech in September.

The Occupy movement combined with Obama’s mortgage refinance plan made up 40 percent of that economic media coverage.

A clear example is the nation’s most influential newspaper, The New York Times. In Monday’s edition alone it had articles about the Occupy protests in the international and national news sections, another in the opinion section, and a letter to the editor.

With the leading newspaper in the country devoting so much coverage to the movement, one can see the protest is having some kind of impact.

The protests have grabbed the public’s attention.  Instead of talking about the deficit and the debt ceiling as during the summer, now people are talking about inequality, greed and jobs.

National attention is now being given to the fact that one percent of the population is prospering, while the remainder continues to struggle.

Over the last three weeks the Occupy movement has continually been the most talked about.

It has even been mentioned in Congress and in the Republican presidential primary contest.

Even some of the movement’s targets, like the bankers and member of the one percent have felt compelled to respond to its allegations.

Some believe that Bank of America dropped its $5 debit card fee on Tuesday at least in part because of the Occupy protests.

There is no denying that the Occupy movement has dominated the news. The Occupy protests have changed the national conversation, even if the future of the movement is still unknown.

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