A note from The Scallion to our faithful Readers: we're skipping today's “Democracy Now!” headlines to bring you a story from our roving staff reporter as well as a link to a fascinating but lengthy article about the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan when he was President: was it a conspiracy and battle between Bush loyalists and Regan loyalists? Read the story and decide for yourselves! Don't be put off because the page starts by exposing the DUI arrest of George H.W. Bush—surprise! Like father, like son after all!

http://www.geocities.com/prohibition_us/dui.html

As always, we refer you to www.democracynow.org and www.alternet.org for news you can use—especially AlterNet's feature this week describing how Rupert Murdoch has set his sights on taking down the BBC and swapping in some good, new-fangled Foxification. How dare those uppity Brits best us Americans by having access to accurate, publicly-funded news? Oh, the nerve of some people ...

And now, for today's top story ...


So Much for So-Called Liberal Media: Shortchanging the Peace Movement (Again)

October 26, 2003. Washington, D.C. The Scallion's always webmeister and sometimes roving reporter, A.J., attended the end-the-occupation, bring-our-troops-home, hold-Bush-accountable march held yesterday by pro-peace organizations like International A.N.S.W.E.R., Code Pink, Black Voices for Peace, and others. A.J. participated in the proceedings and later sampled the offerings of local web-based media to see how they reported Saturday's events. What you are about to read is the report in A.J.'s own words.

After attending the end-the-occupation, pro-peace march on Washington, D.C. yesterday, where I saw an NBC4 reporter and cameraman, I checked the NBC4 website for coverage of the story. This is what I found on the web:

http://www.nbc4.com/news/2581334/detail.html

Following that link, I saw the following headline information:

Diverse Crowd Turns Out For Anti-War Protest
Protesters Oppose 'Recolonization' Of Iraq

POSTED: 9:11 a.m. EDT October 25, 2003

Here is an excerpt from that article:

“Organizers expected more than 30,000 people would turn out for the rally and a march in the afternoon that would circle the White House and the Justice Department. The crowd appeared much smaller than early predictions.”

Fascinating: the article was prepared to hazard such a guess at the attendance of the event in an article posted at 9:11 a.m. when the rally didn’t start until 11 a.m., and the march didn’t start until 1:30 p.m.!

So, when is NBC4 going to update this pre-event article with an account of what actually happened? Looks like “never” would be the right answer, folks. I’ve checked back several times since that original posting, and nothing has changed. Probably a safe bet to say it never will.

Frustrated with such a clear manipulation of the facts, intentional or not, I checked some of the other local news websites.

ABC’s website, http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1003/107816.html offers a noncommittal, detail-free tidbit about the march. It was such a tiny blurb that you might think space on the web was at a premium. At least, ABC did not attempt to spin the few words they chose to print about the protest.

CBS’s website, http://www.wusatv9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=23929, has an underhanded version of the story. After describing the Reverend Al Sharpton’s remarks, the story makes this statement:

“In contrast, people stood up to 12 deep in Oceanside, Calif., to cheer more than 11,000 Marines and sailors who marched through downtown in the homecoming of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at nearby Camp Pendleton. Many held flags or signs that said ‘Thank You’' and red, white and blue confetti filled the air.”

“In contrast”? Am I misreading, or does the writer of this story wish to imply that Saturday’s protesters do not support the troops? As one of the attendees, I can safely say that we do indeed support our troops—in direct contrast to Bush, we want them home safely. In direct contrast to Bush, we want them to receive prompt and effective medical treatment for all their injuries and ailments, without having to wait for months or bear an unreasonable burden of proving that each ailment is a direct result of combat. In direct contrast to Bush, we want them to receive a living wage for their hard, dirty, dangerous work: American soldiers work too hard and risk too much to earn so little that they must rely on food stamps to feed their children. And, in direct contrast to Bush, we don’t want our veterans, who have served faithfully and well, to have their meager benefits cut while the nation’s wealthiest pocket tax refunds in excess of $80,000.

The CBS story goes on to give an unofficial police estimate of the crowd as 20,000-30,000—the time of day the estimate was made is not specified. That is an important datum, since so many people arrived for the march after the 11:00 rally was over, and since, as NBC unwittingly pointed out, the full crowd had not yet turned out at, say, 9:00 in the morning.

But you can really tell what side CBS’s bread is buttered on when you read the tail end of the story and see to whom they give the last word:

“The D.C. chapter of Free Republic, an independent grass-roots conservative group, gathered a few dozen people at the U.S. Capitol to show support for Bush and the troops in Iraq. ‘Whether or not the war should have started is a moot point,’ said Eric Campbell, a 32-year-old who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. ‘We have to stay if anything for the Iraqi people.’”

While ignoring or dismissing the growing peace movement seems to be the law of the land abided by the majority of local Washingtonian web-based media, there is one notable exception. The Washington Post’s October 26 article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17636-2003Oct25.html

presents an accurate account of the event without shortchanging the protest or the protesters and, in giving a more fair and balanced account than their counterparts, even mentions the counter-protest. The Post’s article quotes District Police Chief Ramsey as estimating the attendance at 40,000-50,000. This number coincides nearly perfectly with the 50,000 estimated by Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink. How nice that the Post was more interested in presenting the facts rather than skewing them—and how unfortunate that they were so alone in doing so.

Saturday’s protesters are trying to hold this administration accountable: accountable for American lives lost and accountable for American tax dollars spent. It is a shame—and a nail in the coffin of American democracy—that most of our media cannot be bothered to do the same.