| Timothy Pool | |
|---|---|
Tim Pool |
|
| Born | March 9, 1986 Chicago[1] |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Notable credit(s) | Tech Director The Other 99, Founder TimcastTV |
| Website | |
| The Other 99 | |
Timothy Pool is an American "journalist" from Chicago, Illinois.[1] His unique 21-hour marathon reporting earned him fame during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Utilizing a unique style of first-hand reporting and insightful commentary, Pool's reputation spread quickly across social and mainstream media. Pool broadcasts using a smartphone and an external battery.[2]
Contents |
Tim Pool traveled to NYC to report on the Occupy Wall Street movement in mid-September during the first week of the protest. He founded TimcastTV to report live news and showcase new technologies he is currently developing.[3]
Pool employs a live-chat stream in his reporting, engaging viewers as participants. This allows the viewing public to ask questions, which he can respond to live. [4] Pool can also let his viewers direct him on where and when to go and where to point his camera.[5]
Throughout his reporting, members of the public and viewers of the stream, inspired by the coverage, brought him batteries, food, water and energy drinks to support his reporting marathons. Pool's dedication to reporting has earned him praise from both social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as mainstream media sources.
In the early hours of November 15, the NYPD and city sanitation workers were brought in to remove all occupants and their belongings from Zuccotti Park by order of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. All media was barred from filming the raid.[6] After occupants of the park were forcibly evicted Pool began a broadcast marathon reporting on the marches and general assemblies going on around him in the city's streets.
In a matter of hours, Tim's viewer count had skyrocketed to nearly 13,000 simultaneous viewers.[7]
At around 6am attorneys associated with the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild obtained a temporary restraining order against the City of New York, Brookfield Office Properties Inc., and various other city agencies ordering the occupiers be allowed back into Zuccotti Park along with their belongings. A hearing was set for 11:30am by Justice Lucy Billings.[8] It was not until after 5:30pm that the occupiers were let back in to Zuccotti Park, though officers would not let large bags, sleeping bags, blankets, or any other materials that could be used for camping back into the park.[9] A rumored 10pm curfew of Zuccotti Park was not enforced.
After nearly 21 hours of continuous reporting, Tim Pool ended the broadcast shortly after 10:30pm Tuesday night. By morning, Tim was on the front page of a half dozen major news websites around the world, including MSNBC and TIME.com.[3][1][7]
By the end of the night Pool's channel had reached over 250,000 unique viewers. [10]
Organizers of the Occupy movement planned for the Global Day of Action, also known as #N17, to take place on November 17, 2011.[11] Around 7am crowds of hundreds gathered in and around Zuccotti Park to prepare for a march to Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange. Despite the NYPD's initial attempts to shut down the march, citing lack of a parade permit, protesters carried on. They were met by many police barricades, some being pushed out of the way by leading marchers. When protesters could not make it to the New York Stock Exchange building, they separated into groups and blocked major intersections around the NYSE.[12]
By mid-day, there were an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 protesters going from Zuccotti Park to various parks and government buildings around the city.[13]
That evening marchers met with members from about a dozen different unions in Foley Square to prepare to march over the Brooklyn Bridge.[14] Around 7pm marchers had gotten by police blocking the bridge and began marching across. Protesters cheered, sang, and chanted as they crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. Projection images with phrases such as "99%" and "Mic Check" were displayed on the side of the Verizon Building.[15] Pool's simultaneous viewer count had reached over 30,000[16] before experiencing a server issue with Ustream which cut Pool's live feed.[17] By the end of the night, reported estimates of the total number of marchers ranged from 30,000 to 36,000 people.
The total unique viewer count for the night reached 737,000 and over 600,000 the following day.[18][19]
Tim Pool's coverage of Occupy Wall Street is ongoing.[20] Recently, Pool has traveled around the US covering different actions and evictions, including the #D12 action in Long Beach, California, the December 17th action in New York, as well as the eviction of Occupy Albany.[21][22]
Pool has turned a toy remote-controlled Parrot AR.Drone into an "OccuCopter" for serious aerial surveillance. He has modified software for live streaming into a system he calls the DroneStream, as a cheap way to gain live coverage from the sky.[23] Since the eviction of Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti park, Pool has continued to utilize new technologies for coverage of Occupy Movement events, as well as to advance journalism. These include a zeppelin modification, and developing a "superchannel" to aggregate live-streaming reporters and their location data onto a map.[24][25]