In a transparent effort to yet again applaud the left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams introduced the broadcast's Making a Difference segment by proclaiming: "We all remember the Occupy Wall Street movement. We covered them here a lot....Whatever you think of their agenda and them, they've re-formed now, into Occupy Sandy. They're redirecting their energy into helping hurricane victims..."
In the report that followed, correspondent Katy Tur announced: "Remember the Occupy Wall Street movement famous for taking over New York's Zuccotti Park and coining the term 1%? Well, now they have Occupy Sandy. Within days after Sandy hit, Occupy went to work."
Although the Occupy movement says they have no leadership, they have set up a hyper-organized system for this, three main hubs in New York, each with a command center, a medic dispatch, and car dispatch to organize drivers. There's a phone bank, kitchens that provide two hot meals a day, and no shortage of helpers. They use Twitter and Facebook to match donations to needs. And UPS to deliver supplies that have been carefully picked out.
Despite touting the group's class warfare rhetoric about the 1%, Tur went on to tout how they managed to accumulate "$400,000 in the bank" to fund the relief efforts.
Wrapping up the puff piece, Tur added: "No bureaucracy and the Occupy volunteers say that means no problem." A rather contradictory point of view for a movement demanding more government intervention in the economy.
Here is a full transcript of the November 13 report:
7:23PM ET TEASE:
7:26PM ET SEGMENT:
WILLIAMS: We all remember the Occupy Wall Street movement. We covered them here a lot. Just about everybody formed their own opinion about the protesters and their cause. Whatever you think of their agenda and them, they've re-formed now, into Occupy Sandy. They're redirecting their energy into helping hurricane victims from the Jersey shore to Long Island Sound. NBC's Katy Tur has our Making a Difference report.
KATY TUR: There are no official badges. All they have for identification is a first name scribbled on some masking tape. These volunteers may not have legal charity status, but that's not stopping them.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: They desperately need our help, they lost everything.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTORS: End the war! Tax the rich!
TUR: Remember the Occupy Wall Street movement famous for taking over New York's Zuccotti Park and coining the term 1%? Well, now they have Occupy Sandy. Within days after Sandy hit, Occupy went to work. And while FEMA temporarily shut its doors during last week's nor'easter, due to bad weather, Occupy never did. More than two weeks after the storm, thousands of people volunteer daily. Sasha Brown is just one of them. He helps pack up supplies and deliver them to people in need.
SASHA BROWN: I'm just another New Yorker helping out other New Yorkers.
TUR: His band finished touring so he borrowed the van and showed up here. Who's paying for the gas?
BROWN: I am, the band is. They don't know it yet, but they're donating it.
TUR: Although the Occupy movement says they have no leadership, they have set up a hyper-organized system for this, three main hubs in New York, each with a command center, a medic dispatch, and car dispatch to organize drivers. There's a phone bank, kitchens that provide two hot meals a day, and no shortage of helpers. They use Twitter and Facebook to match donations to needs. And UPS to deliver supplies that have been carefully picked out.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Wonderful, thank you.
TUR: With $400,000 in the bank and next to no overhead, nearly all the money can go straight to relief efforts. For Olive Small, every little bit helps.
OLIVE SMALL: They're trying to help people to survive.
TUR: No bureaucracy and the Occupy volunteers say that means no problem. Katy Tur, NBC News, New York.
