Unicorn Riot: the tiny media outlet on the frontlines of US protests
As protests over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer have gripped Minneapolis and many other major US cities over recent weeks one previously unknown news organization has sprung to the fore.
Unicorn Riot, a small non-profit with just eight correspondents, has reported, often via live stream, some of the most engrossing, and frequently shocking, footage of the protests that have spread across the US.
In some cases Unicorn Riot reporters have become targets for violence themselves, as they have documented the heavy-handed policing and pugnacious rightwing counter-demonstrations that have accompanied the George Floyd protests.
“We’ve been covering police killings a ton in this area for the last five years,” said Niko Georgiades, one of the founders of Unicorn Riot. At the time of Floyd’s death Unicorn Riot was working on a documentary called The Mothers based on interviews with women whose children had died at the hands of police.
“So it’s definitely not something new to us, this whole topic,” Georgiades said.
When they cover protests Unicorn Riot – the name was drawn from a pot of founders’ suggestions, and has “provided a huge conversation starter”, Georgiades said – puts out live stream coverage and then cuts digestible videos and publishes written articles.
“It’s long days, but I’m pretty dedicated. For me personally, I’m dedicated because I feel it’s really needed right now,” Georgiades said. “I’ve been doing probably 15 hours a days. Some days it’ll be like 18.”
The frontline work is not without dangers.
In mid-June a Unicorn Riot journalist filmed as a group of people – mostly male, mostly white – gathered around a statue of Christopher Columbus. Across the country a number of problematic monuments and statues have been torn down by protesters in recent weeks.
As reporter Chris Schiano filmed,