Sunday, February 27, 2011

I Hate This Mess: Media largely ignores massive Wisconsin protests on Saturday

 
 

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via on 2/27/11

I Hate This Mess: Media largely ignores massive Wisconsin protests on Saturday:

Yesterday approximately 70,000 to 100,000 people attended a protest at Wisconsin's Capitol Square in opposition to Governor Scott Walker's (R) Budget Repair Bill despite.  The crowd woud be impressive on any day, but was even more so yesterday given the weather conditions which included snow and temperatures well below freezing.  Despite these facts, the national media largely ignored the protests yesterday.  The websites of Fox News, CNN, and even MSNBC decided to focus on other issues for the entire day.  The cable news networks barely mentioned the Wisconsin protests yesterday on television, choosing instead to run with recorded programs and other stories.

The Wisconsin protests have now been sustained for over two weeks, much longer than any single protests against "Obamacare' or "the bailouts" over the last two years.  The Wisconsin protests are also larger than anything the Tea Party has been able to produce.  The large crowds in Wisconsin are even more impressive considering the fact that the protests deal with only a state issue, whereas Tea Party rallies often dealt with national issues.  Tea Party rallies with just a few thousand attendees frequently received national coverage.  Political pundits spoke of the Tea Party as a movement sweeping over the nation.  Fox News went as far as to promote some of the Tea Party rallies.  Politicians, both Democratic and Republican, were constantly asked about the power of the Tea Party.  On February 19th a crowd of about 2,000 to 5,000 Tea Party protesters went to Madison, Wisconsin as a "counter protest" to the anti-Walker protests.  By all accounts the anti-Walker crowd at that rally greatly outnumbered the Tea Party crowd, yet again the national media chose to emphasize the smaller Tea Party protest.

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