People Tire of Protests When The Media Won't Cover It

[Wiley50]

One million people in the Mall and maybe a blip on one evening news

It has to go farther if we hope to make a difference.

Those media HQs need to be stormed, if not the White House gates.

Sure people will get hurt, but that is the nature of revolution.

Is is better to let them pick us off one by one and slowly starved to death.

It's gonna take more foreclosures and body bags before it happens

if Putin and China don't force their hand.

And if they use nukes in Iran

That might just push them to it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Code Pink has been protesting our media for several years now

There are regulars at the Sunday morning shows and others who have been trying for a long time to get into the crowd for the morning talk shows.

But not many realize that.

[barbtries]

2. because the media won't cover it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Exactly

Here in our city, we finally got so disgusted with being ignored by our local media that we scheduled a meeting with a reporter. There were 5 or 6 of us who are regulars in our anti-war groups, out on the streets here twice a week and this reporter who has been in the business for 35 years and writes for our local newspaper.

Everything was going well until one of us mentioned the Downing Street Minutes and the reporter said "The Downing what?" I said "You know, the Downing Street Minutes" He said "What's that?"

I blasted the guy. I told him that we had actually picketed his newspaper in 2005 for NOT reporting the DSM story. He said his beat was local and he wouldn't have covered the DSM anyway. I asked how he could claim to be a journalist and not have any curiosity about stories that aren't on his beat? One of the other people there called the DSM the Pentagon Papers of the Iraq War. The reporter just sat there with a dumb look on his face.

That's when I completely gave up on our media.

[LynzM]

3. Agreed, and a thought.

My cousin lives in D.C. and said that the protests, for most people who live and work there (legislators included) are nothing more than a nuisance, and do nothing to wake up your average Joe.

We ought to start having 10-20k person protests in little tiny towns, where the local news sure as heck would cover it if that many people showed up, and maybe even talk about why they were there! :)

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I was in DC for the 5th anniversary of the war in March

On the Metro that morning, there was a lady in front of us who was wearing a pink jacket. She and the man next to her were talking about all the crazy protesters in town and what an "inconvenience" they were. The man then told the lady that she probably shouldn't have worn pink that day, she would be confused with one of those crazy pink ladies.

Just then the train stopped and they got off. I really wanted to run after her and ask her if she was just as worried about the Iraqis who were being inconvenienced by this illegal war.

[barbtries]

7. that's a thought.

but we should have at least a few townspeople protesting as well or we'd probably just turn people off.

face it, there are a hellalot of people who really don't want to know. don't want to care. and i can't knock 'em too hard, because 364 out of 365 nights a year i'm too whupped to do it either.

[frogcycle]

5. it is going to take disruption

The same thing happened during VN.

Marches and protests on campuses got no attention, until people started taking over the offices, staging sit-ins, etc. marches in DC got no attention until the stated intent, in advance, was to block traffic and disrupt business as usual. Even then, they hauled everyone off to RFK stadium without valid cause to detain, just released them all at the end of the day. Kent State was the turning point. After that EVERY protest got covered.

It does not have to be violent, does not have to be destructive, but it DOES have to be disruptive. REALLY disruptive.

Get a million people to encircle the Capitol, lock arms, and sing "We Shall Overcome" or "Give Peace a Chance."

Don't move to let traffic come and go. Make them drag people off. As fast as they do, close ranks. Eventually they'll pop a few teargas grenades. It's not all that bad - I got a dose at the Pentagon in 1967. A few people will need medical attention, but they'll recover, and they'll be heros. The media will go nuts. If a Kent State or Chicago Democratic Convention ensues (authorities overreacting) people might get hurt or killed, to be sure. They will be martyrs. Real, honest-to-GOODness martyrs for the cause of peace. What a concept!

We need one good, highly visible, well covered event like this and we just might get a few million more involved. And then more. And more. People are herd animals. We need someone at the fron of the herd to bolt, and we'll get a stampede.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

8. Getting me excited!

I am SO ready... bring it on

[NightWatcher]

9. Screw the Media, like my siggy says, "Direct Action Gets Satisfaction"

then you can rest easy at night knowing you did something good, regardless if it got media coverage. There are "news sites" where reports of protest and action are publicized.

http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/

and you can send in the stories via a secure webmail addy http://www.hushmail.com/

[Peregrine Took]

10. New strategies must be enacted for these times. I think street theater could

be so dramatic that the media would have to cover it.

No warning, big crowds aren't necessary - just something powerful, colorful and in a busy place so it can't be ignored.

It doesn't even have to be noisy - in fact, deathly quiet would be best.

Just a few skilled people appear, put on their costumes, set up signs so the public knows what the hell you are protesting and do something jaw dropping to make your statement. Then its over and you're gone.

Film it and send it to the tv stations. It has to be done in a very public place - that's what audacious about it - Like an intersection in a busy downtown area. It has to be quick, shocking and over in like a minute or less. Multiple ones could be done at the same time all over an area.

The old protest marches just don't work anymore.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

11. Setting oneself on fire while in lotus position might still work ;)

[eowyn_of_rohan]

13. too late to edit out the wink smile. Wasn't funny

[Fireweed247]

12. This is the key- We must take back our media

None of this would have been possible without the complicity of the Corporate media.
Even 'public' broadcasting has been taken over by the Corporations.
Where is V when we need him?

We need a DUer who is a lawyer to start a class action suite against the media for lying to US.

[Wiley50]

14. If It's Not Accessable Via The Average Joe's TV Remote, It Simply Didn't Happen

Rove knew this. So did Ailes.

Media Deregulation started when RayGun trashed the Fairness Doctrine

and the flood of Rush and Rush Clones washed all sanity away.

This is why Olbermann seems so revolutionary now, but it takes more, much more.

We were trashed in the eyes of the average working guy and he sat and let them bust his unions,

ship his job to China and ship his son home in a body bag from Iraq. Now they're foreclosing on his home.

And still he just sits there, fondling that remote and surfing channels.

Those average working stiffs DO MATTER. WE ALL MATTER!

But We have to get his attention.

And then we need to be there on his clicker making stone cold sense he can't deny.

Only then can we win back our country.

SUPPORT NOVA M for a start and then make it happen in Video too.

FIND A WAY TO TAKE BACK THE VISUAL MEDIA!

[cayuga]

15. Nothing will change until

our collective power is felt by the corporations.

First, let them know we won't buy anything advertised on government-controlled media.

Second, cut back on consumption.

Third, spread the word that wasteful buying and spending is a Republican value.