------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 8, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- BEFORE, DURING & AFTER J20: CORPORATE MEDIA TRY TO BLEEP OUT PROTESTS By Gery Armsby Thousands of print, TV, radio and Internet media personnel were on hand for the inauguration of President George W. Bush on Jan. 20. How could this massive media presence have failed to cover the huge anti-Bush protests all over Washington and in many other U.S. cities? Didn't they see the demonstrations? Was there confusion over what the protests were about? Was it a collective but benign error of omission? Or was it a highly coordinated effort between the corporate- dominated media and the government, including multiple police agencies, to spare the new administration the embarrassment of reporting the presence of tens of thousands of angry, often militant protesters who far outnumbered Bush's supporters along the parade route? On Jan. 21, the front pages of every major newspaper published in North America were filled with pictures and words glorifying and legitimizing Bush's foul ascendancy to the White House. Yet news of the mass protests was relegated to the back pages or, presumably, the editors' wastebaskets. Cable and broadcast TV networks like CNN, MSNBC, Fox and ABC carried live coverage of the inauguration. Each repeated the same bare minimum of information about protests, dismissing them as "not causing the security problems that were expected" or "loud but well contained." This type of reporting along the parade route was a pitiful substitute for any substantive commentary about the predominance of anti-Bush protesters clearly visible on camera and audible on tape. FLURRY OF MEDIA INTEREST BEFORE PROTESTS In the days and weeks before the inauguration, reporters constantly pursued protest organizers for information about demonstration plans. Many attended pre-inaugural news conferences held by organizers from the International Action Center and other groups and lawyers from the Partnership for Civil Justice. At these well-attended news conferences, organizers explained protest plans and disseminated information about the status of protest permits and the legality of security checkpoints. Some reporters asked permission to follow organizers around for periods of time to observe them in action in the days before Jan. 20. C-SPAN aired two of the news conferences in their entirety, and then repeated them. One result of the exposure was that organizers received an enormous response from the public. Another development that may have resulted from the exposure was a media pullback several days before the protests. Stories filed for the Washington Post and ABC World News Tonight, based on reporters' extensive interviews with IAC leaders, were mysteriously put on hold. This was done at the very time that a groundswell of organizing activity was building the protests. Rather than carrying the stories that more or less presented the protesters' point of view of the Post and ABC instead presented stories that hyped up the Secret Service's ostensible notions about the inauguration coming under missile attack, the need for unprecedented high-security measures, description of security checkpoints and so on. Imani Henry, an IAC organizer who staffed the mobilzation's offices in Washington, said he thought that "this was a relentless, targeted attempt to frighten Washington's large Black and Latina/o population away from the Saturday demonstrations, much as Bush forces tried to harass Black voters away from the polls in Florida. "The story about our protest was finally aired on World News Tonight the next evening, but the scare tactic was already out there in the community from the newspapers and TV the day before." 'WE'RE NOT COVERING THE PROTESTS' On Jan. 20, C-SPAN covered one-and-a-half hours of the inaugural parade without commentary. This allowed viewers to clearly hear the thunderous cacophony of the dissenting protesters on TV and on C-SPAN's Web site. However, C-SPAN was the exception rather than the rule. During MSNBC's inaugural coverage, one commentator could be heard saying, "We're not covering the protests, you know that?" just before a commercial break. The comment was made into a live microphone when the announcer apparently thought he had gone off the air. CNN and MSNBC repeatedly claimed they were unable to show footage of the protests because demonstrators were "making gestures too obscene to broadcast." Finally, CNN managed to edit a five-minute report by correspondent Kate Snow that aired several times after 10 p.m. In a Jan. 22 story the Washington Post article admitted that "demonstrators were evident on every block of the 1.6-mile [inaugural parade] route, and on some blocks on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, they outnumbered other parade- goers." Due to the location of 12 of the 16 security checkpoints, many more people were concentrated on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue than on the south. Yet, despite limited access to the south side of the avenue, many anti-Bush protesters massed there between 12th and 14th streets, creating an overwhelming protestor majority among the crowd on both sides. Protesters observed several trucks transporting TV cameras and news photographers along the parade route speed up as they passed these blocks. That's why most TV viewers never got a clear view of the crowds at Freedom Plaza. In the days since the installation of the Bush administration, much has been written about Bush's every move during the inauguration. The New York Times has published barely over 500 words about the protests. A political feature story about TV coverage of the inauguration in the Jan. 21 edition noted: "You didn't have to be a cynic to see reality creeping in, with comments on the rancorous post-election recount and the divided Congress, and eventually with visible evidence of furious protesters along the parade route. The anchors' inability to stay inside their illusory bubble sent a strong message to viewers: the country is living on a split screen." The New York Times article reduced the protests to a mere symptom of divisions between Democrats and Republicans. INDEPENDENT MEDIA PICK UP THE BANNER Where can someone go to find out what really happened during the Jan. 20 counter-inaugural protest? How can one get a sense of its significance? Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (fair.org), a national media watchdog group, issued an action alert urging a campaign to tell the New York Times to provide better coverage of the protests. The alert sharply criticized several recent Times articles that called the inauguration a "vision of unity" and made no mention of angry protests. The Independent Media Center (indymedia.org) has been a repository of reportage, pictures, sound and video clips from many demonstrations since Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization in November-December 1999. That Web site features excerpts of live radio broadcast on Jan. 20, including a recording of organizer Larry Holmes speaking to a fired-up crowd barricaded by police just north of Freedom Plaza in the early hours of the protests: "They don't want anybody who's got a sign that says 'Bush: free Mumia!' or 'Bush equals President Death' or ... a big, black, beautiful sign that just says 'NO!' "They want us to be invisible. That's the real reason behind all this security." At this Web site, Jan Schmidt from the Arctic Avengers tells an Indymedia reporter why she came all the way from California to protest the "Bush-Cheney-Norton oil-industry dream team that wants to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." There is also a short interview with Njeri Shakur of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, live coverage from the scene at Navy Memorial Plaza where cops tried to beat up several protesters, and excerpts from the 'shadow inauguration' rally at the Supreme Court. Also, many of the organizations that sponsored demonstrations have regular meetings and maintain mailing lists and E-mail lists, which are useful sources of first- hand information. Other independent working-class news is available from Workers World newspaper (workers.org) and Peoples Video Network (peoplesvideo.org). These media have helped rescue the Jan. 20 demonstration from the big-media whiteout. At a Jan. 23 meeting of IAC volunteers in New York, a brief PVN video of the Freedom Plaza protest was screened. These independent media are vital to the growing movement. Aside from the lack of objective coverage of progressive causes by the major media, there is another factor to keep in mind. Brian Becker of the IAC pointed out, "The same corporations that own the media fear the rebirth of a mass movement for social justice." - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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