The Recorded Future Blog

Iran's Growing Influence and Occupy Wall Street Protests

We recently tweeted a shared link showing coverage and gaining online momentum for the Occupy Wall Street movement. When we look more carefully at influencers in this discussion using our Influencer Map, we find that Iran Press TV  is the second largest influencer after the US Media!

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Press TV reporting has a distinct slant. Check out this except from one of the Press TV hits:

An American scholar says peaceful anti-corporatism protests known as “Occupy Wall Street” in New York are ‘nonexistent’ in mainstream media in the US, Press TV reports. “Apparently it is too threatening to corporate interests to acknowledge it,” James H. Fetzer, founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, told Press TV on Thursday.

First of all, we’ve been tracking Occupy Wall St in the mainstream media for quite some time. This screen shot shows hits (shaded) in the mainstream media over time:

And for those who are unaware Scholars for 9/11 Truth is an organization who list: Scholars for 9/11 Truth (S9/11T) is a non-partisan association of faculty, students, and scholars, in fields as diverse as history, science, military affairs, psychology, and philosophy, dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9/11.

Regardless, Iran’s Press TV seems disproportionally interested in covering these events. In nearly every other US geopolitical top contributors are typically UK and Canada after the US (check out this example of Tea Party coverage and influencers over the same period). Iran’s increasing online coverage and influence should certainly be noted.