“The news story of the day was the decline of Ray’s Pizza, and there wasn’t much messaging coming from the park,” says Nelson, who is CEO of Workhouse Publicity.

Nelson shot photos and emailed them to a list of 500,000 subscribers worldwide. Thus he began his pro bono PR work for the movement that blasts corporate greed—and is dominating the news Thursday with its attempts to shut down Wall Street.

The story is as big as it gets from a PR perspective, and Workhouse isn’t toiling alone. A committee of protesters is handing communications, creating Facebook pages, tweeting, and fielding calls from the media. But is their message hitting home?

A new opinion poll suggests the public is turning against OWS. Support for its goals, at 35 percent, was lower than for those of the Tea Party, at 42 percent.

Nelson disputes the poll, saying the movement is resonating worldwide and drawing thousands to the streets. But PR pros are divided about the success of its communications.

Canny cultivation of the media