Protesters plan more ‘Occupied Wall Street Journal’ issues with Kickstarter cash

The Cutline

At first, the Occupy Wall Street protesters complained that the media were not covering the movement. Now protesters are complaining that the media are not taking it seriously enough.

Two of the protesters, however, have taken an old-school approach to get their message across--launching the Occupied Wall Street Journal, a free print publication, with more than $46,000 in donations on Kickstarter.

The first issue quickly ran out of its 50,000 issue print-run when it hit Zuccotti Park on Saturday. The paper's editors--Jed Brandt and Michael Levitin--ordered a second printing of 20,000 copies on Monday night, and are planning publishing a second issue on Thursday. Brandt did not immediately respond to a message sent through the group's Kickstarter page.

While the protest paper appears to be the only publication dedicated to Occupy Wall Street, the founders emphasize that the paper "is not the 'official' media of the occupation -- there is no official media!"

Ironically, the Occupied Journal was covered by the real Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"Initially we were going to make a mock Journal," Levitin told the real Journal, pointing out that former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges wrote a piece for the debut issue:

The paper's first freelance commission came about by happenstance: Brandt met the award-winning journalist in Zuccotti Park and told Hedges about the project. Hedges promptly removed a few typed pages from his coat pocket--an article he was working on about the protest movement--and told Brandt he could print it.

Thursday's issue is expected to include coverage of Wednesday's planned rallies with union leaders. And like the Occupy Wall Street movement itself, Occupied Journal's founders say they want to take the concept national, and to keep donating. Via a message on their Kickstarter page:

Future projects include longer editions of the newspaper, bold stickers, edgy posters, colorful palm cards and inspiring flyers.

PLEASE KEEP CONTRIBUTING! We don't have billions like FOX News nor are we bankrolled by the Koch brothers. We only have YOU! You have our tremendous gratitude, but this money will only pay for two issues. The more money we get, the more newspapers, posters, stickers and flyers we can print to get out the voice of the 99%! Please keep contributing and encouraging all your friends, family and colleagues to do likewise!

Brandt and Levitin say they've raised enough money to print five issues--at a brisk four pages, it costs just a few thousand dollars per issue to produce.

Also worth noting that the real Journal--through a representative--declined to comment about the Occupied Journal to WSJ's reporters, except to say "the protest newspaper has no relationship to The Journal."

You can view the first issue here.