The First Amendment: Good When You Can Get It

[marmar]

from Truthout:


The First Amendment: Good When You Can Get It
By David Rovics
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor

Friday 02 January 2007

The organizers with United for Peace and Justice and all of those participating have once again pulled off a giant protest march and rally. As has happened several times since the invasion of Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of people have converged for a national protest, this time in Washington, DC.

The major media outlets decided this time that the protest was worth covering. It was aired on CSPAN, reviewed by the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle, and even recognized as the socially diverse crowd that it was - young and old, veteran activists and first-time protesters, soccer moms and socialists.

As usual, crowd estimates given by the major media varied wildly, from "thousands" to "tens of thousands" to "just under 100,000." Some, including the New York Times, dared mention one estimate of 400,000. This is particularly notable since the NY Times was one of the many outlets guilty of barely reporting on past protests, and frequently using vague terms like "thousands" when reporting on crowds that had virtually filled Central Park.

I missed the rally, being on tour on the other side of the Atlantic this time around. But looking at it from afar, it seems to have been a model event. UFPJ was given a permit to have a march and a rally. The masses descended, and the major media took note, at least to some degree reflecting the reality that could be seen by anyone present - that there are a lot of people in the US against the war.

For people attending or reading about this weekend's anti-war protest, there are certain assumptions that could be made, that the media also seems to be confirming: .....(more)

The rest of the piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020207O.shtml