200,000 Anti-War Protesters in DC, Yet Cable News Failed to Send Reporters, Cameras

Per today's Washington Post, reporting on the massive anti-war rally and march yesterday in DC, "Tens of thousands of people packed downtown Washington yesterday and marched past the White House in the largest show of antiwar sentiment in the nation's capital since the conflict in Iraq began.

The demonstration drew grandmothers in wheelchairs and babies in strollers, military veterans in fatigues and protest veterans in tie-dye. It was the first time in a decade that protest groups had a permit to march in front of the executive mansion, and, even though President Bush was not there, the setting seemed to electrify the crowd....

Protest organizers estimated that 300,000 people participated, triple their original target. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, who walked the march route, said the protesters achieved the goal of 100,000 and probably exceeded it. Asked whether at least 150,000 showed up, the chief said, 'That's as good a guess as any.' "

Here are some great photos from Saturday's rally and march, taken by Rachel Cooper, About.com's Guide to Washington DC. I particularly enjoyed Rachel's photos here and here, which reflect the size and diversity of the crowd.

For more photos, the Progressive Democrats of America's Flickr gallery of photos from yesterday's DC anti-war rally and march is here.

And here are some excellent crowd photos , a few including anti-war leader Cindy Sheehan, at Brad Friedman's well-read BradBlog.
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An anti-war protest is incomplete without controversy, and this weekend was no exception.

While the Washington Post and New York Times provided superb, front-page news reporting of this anti-war rally and march, which drew an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 particpants of all ages, ethnicities, faiths and parts of our country, the two primary cable news organizations.....CNN and MSNBC....sent neither reporters nor cameras to provide televised coverage of any portion of this landmark event. In fact, the websites for both services merely included the same boilerplate AP story in lieu of original articles.

Instead, CNN and MSNBC lavished 48 solid hours of politically-correct airtime on every nuance of Hurricane Rita, a run-of-the-mill category 2 storm (and George Bush as acting FEMA chief) once it hit landfall...with nary a ten-minute break to mention the massive, historic demonstration on the Washington Mall.

Was this obvious broadcasting faux pas caused by misplaced priorities or by design, bending to continuing pressure by this Administration on the most popular cable news outlets to present a Bush-friendly scenario?

Here's my answer....It doesn't matter.

Print journalism reported this important story in a fair, balanced and prominent manner.......and cable news continued its obsession with the tabloid-style story du jour of the moment, be it Natalee Holloway/Lacey Peterson/Michael Jackson, a picturesque but routine category 2 hurricane or Emmy Awards red carpet fashions.

The moral of this tale of competing journalistic approaches? That despite their learning curves of adapting the written word to cyberspace, the great newspapers of the United States.....New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Christian Science Monitor and many, many more.....remain the kings of journalistic credibility.

Cable news once again proved itself to still be the pretender to the journalistic crown, and without aspirations to be anything different.

It's cable news that proved itself to be trivial, not the story of a quarter-million Americans gathering to non-violently voice their heartfelt objections to the directionless Iraq War.
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Full disclosure - About.com is owned by the New York Times
Related articles -- Massive Three-Day Anti-War Protest This Weekend in Washington DC
Iraq & National Security Statistics, to September 2005
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