TORONTO — After years of confusion over the precise journalistic methodology employed by ProtestMania, Ward 14 council candidate Caryma Sa’d has finally cleared things up: the important part is observing and recording stuff.

In an open letter to Toronto Police, Sa’d described journalists as having the “straightforward task of observing and recording public events,” bringing much-needed clarity to a project that has documented hundreds of protests while occasionally leaving viewers uncertain what anyone was protesting.

The revelation also appears consistent with an early description of ProtestMania as an archive of selected footage featuring “minimal writing, just descriptions of video.”

Journalism scholars immediately expressed relief.

“For centuries we've burdened reporters with unnecessary tasks like interviewing people, researching context, verifying claims and explaining why events are happening,” said one journalism professor who does not exist.

“Turns out we needed a guy with an iPhone.”

Five Ws streamlined to one

Traditional journalism has historically relied on five questions:

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

ProtestMania appears to have developed a more efficient system:

Who is that guy?

Once identified, investigators can determine where else the guy has protested, who he stood beside, whether those people have attended other protests, and whether any of them became irritated when the same videographer appeared to film them again.

Researchers say the system provides substantially more time for journalism by eliminating unnecessary questions such as what is happening and why.

The breakthrough could also resolve a longstanding source of confusion within the profession: the difference between recording something and reporting on it.

“A security camera observes and records public events all day,” explained another expert.

“Until now, nobody realized it was a journalist.”

Major investigation underway

Sa’d's open letter identifies a “relatively small, recurring network of activists,” including two people she says appeared at at least nine separate events in September.

Investigators have already confirmed the “recurring” portion after discovering that the people recurred.

Work continues on “network.”

So far, researchers have uncovered compelling evidence that people who regularly attend protests sometimes know other people who regularly attend protests.

Experts caution that further investigation could reveal organization, coordination or shared structure.

It could also reveal activists.

Previous ProtestMania breakthroughs have established that protest marshals attend protests, legal observers observe things, unions participate in collective political action, and people interested in political causes occasionally remain interested in them for more than one afternoon.

Researchers say the findings are beginning to form a pattern.

Reporting remains under investigation

At press time, ProtestMania had successfully observed the event, recorded the event, identified several people who had attended other events, and uploaded a 4-minute-and-43-second video of the event.

The gathering itself was an Emergency Jewish Community Security meeting with Toronto Police, where Sa’d discussed the very open letter at the centre of the video.

Fortunately, explaining what the event was about would have required reporting.