They are "covered" by the news for values of "covered" which include "mocked". When you give a third party (the media, in this case) the ability to MITM your m

They are "covered" by the news for values of "covered" which include "mocked". When you give a third party (the media, in this case) the ability to MITM your message (through selective editing, and 'editorial' segments in which the talking heads openly insult and belittle the protesters), "any publicity is good publicity" is no longer true. The way to avoid this is to not rely on the media to broadcast your message, but to do it yourself. That way concerned or interested members of the public can access your unadulterated message, not just a version of it that was hashed up by cable news.