Background
Pool grew up in Chicago"s southside to a lower-middle-class family.
Pool grew up in Chicago"s southside to a lower-middle-class family.
In 2011, his 21-hour marathon during the Occupy Wall Street protests reporting earned him notoriety when he primarily reported using mobile technology for social media and live broadcasting. Pool did not attend college instead deciding to focus on work with non-profits where he became a community outreach director He traveled to New York City to report on the Occupy Wall Street movement in mid-September 2011 during the first week of the protest.
Pool"s coverage has been carried and syndicated by multiple mainstream outlets such as National Broadcasting Company, Reuters, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Jazeera, Reality Therapy, and TIME. He has also been featured in Fast Company, Wired, and Time.
In 2013 Pool joined Vice Media producing and hosting content as well as developing new methods of reporting. In 2014, he joined Fusion television as Director of Media innovation and Senior Correspondent.
Reporting style
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.
Pool can also let his viewers direct him on where and when to go and where to point his camera.
Pool has modified a toy remote-controlled Parrot Arkansas.Drone for 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. Pool has continued to utilize new technologies for coverage of events as well as to advance journalism, such as his 2013 reporting of the Istanbul protests with Google Glasses.
Occupy Wall Street
Pool"s use of livestreaming video and aerial drones during Occupy Wall Street protests stirred an article in The Guardian about excessive surveillance.
Throughout his coverage he was threatened and attacked for filming, and in January 2012 he was attacked by a masked assailant. Pool"s video taken during those protests was instrumental evidence in the acquittal of photographer Alexander Arbuckle, who had been arrested by the New York City Police Department. The video showed that the arresting officer had lied under oath, though no charges were filed.
NONATO protests incident
While covering the NONATO protests in Chicago, Pool along with four others were pulled over by a dozen Chicago police officers in unmarked vehicles. The group was removed from the vehicle at gunpoint, interrogated and searched.
The official reason given by police was that the vehicle the team had been in matched a description.
The group was released after approximately 10 minutes.