Reviewing MTV’s new show on OWS, Stephen Deusner concludes that the network has sold out:
MTV is eager to cover Occupy Wall Street; it just doesn’t know how, at least not in any substantial or meaningful way. MTV News’ “True Life: I’m Occupying Wall Street” debuts today, following a protester named Bryan who works on the sanitation team and fights to keep the city from evicting the occupiers. And as part of its O Music Awards — which have noting to do with Oprah — MTV plans to bestow former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello with a special award for Best #Occupy Wall Street Performance, for his strolling rendition of “This Fabled City.” This is how MTV covers OWS – with a reality-esque documentary and an awards show. Which is fitting, since that’s about the only thing the network does anymore.
Robert Farley is unpersuaded. Troy Patterson reads the episode as, in part, an argument that social change is hard. NPR recently examined the history of MTV’s zeitgeist interventions.
The Dish 