To compare the encampment in Marshall Park in Charlotte with Romneyville in Tampa, there were maybe a few more tents in the former, especially as the DNC was in full swing (on Monday and Tuesday, though not on the preceding Saturday or Sunday.)
During marches there seemed about the same degree of police presence in Charlotte as there was in Tampa, but the police in Tampa patrolled Romneyville in closer proximity and did so more frequently and with greater numbers of cops on bikes and special purpose vehicles. Also, in Tampa a helicopter hovered much closer and more directly above us than it did in Charlotte.
The media presence during marches seemed, as I recall, at least slightly, if not significantly, greater in Tampa than it was in Charlotte. The media presence at the encampment in Charlotte was no where near—not even by a long shot—what it was at the Romneyville encampment in Tampa, in terms of numbers, consistency, and diversity. At Romneyville, there were local, national, and international radio, TV, and print and online news outlets.
Most of the media I noticed at our encampment in Charlotte seemed local TV or local newspapers, assuming that more than one newspaper sent a reporter. Some AP reporters stopped by Marshall Park in Charlotte, but I didn’t cross paths in Marshall Park with Colin Moynihan who reports on Occupy for the New York Times.
The few media folk that were at Marshall Park in Charlotte seemed reserved, perhaps unsure of their purpose, if not aloof, compared with the reporters who had spent much more time immersing themselves in the social milieu of Romneyville. At our encampment in Charlotte, there was at least one, if not two or maybe 3 TV news vans parked all day and all night in the lot near the park. But, the humans inside generally didn’t talk with us.
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