How did the protests look on TV? Please report on the reporting.

I just got home - marching from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (okay, a brief burger king break...), then met friends from out of town, dinner, and finally home just now. How was the coverage? What did you see? What are people saying? I missed all TV and won't see any but the local 11:00 news. Please tell those of us in NYC how it looked from where you are. For us, it was absolutely AWESOME.

Most ironic moment:

When we got to Madison Square Garden at 33rd Street we were jam-packed and just barely moving. It was a little scary as there were dozens and dozens of cops and high fences surrounding and tripled concrete barriers so there was no chance to leave there if you wanted to, and ahead of us something was burning and we could see smoke and then a white cloud that I guess was fire extinguishers. Very intense. You can't imagine how packed and hot and exhilirated and furious it was. So we get close to Macy's at 34th Street and there is a giant TV screen on the building. Playing Fox News. A little girl is onscreen. And the caption reads "12 year old girl will report on the convention for the Weekly Reader." We are marching in the hundreds of thousands in the hot sun and screaming all the way but WE are not the news. The 12 year old is. Perfect moment of utter lunacy.

Our best chant:

"N.Y.P.D - WHERE'S YOUR RAISE?" We got those cops to smile!


What did it look like? Did you see what I saw?

Thank you, thank you, thank Zeus for you....

and then took calls. It looked AWESOME.



MSNBC was showing some of it with a split screen with Bush* and with annoying commentary.

CNN seemed to show a very little of it from when I checked.

I called from the protest to see how we fared on TV. Seems CSpan covered the entire march from early morning to late afternoon. The huge turnout was evident to anyone who watched us....and CSpan made that clear. Evening news gave us a few seconds of "a few thousand" protesters came to MSG.
But the worst is on CNN's web page. Look at what they've reduced us to. No shots of the massive crowds....just the burning of the dragon...and they give equal time to some opposition group (I never saw them - but I don't doubt a handful were there). I'm very proud to have shared the day with you all...but I'm totally dishearted, once again ,at being the invisible protester.
http://www.cnn.com/

I have to say, that was really scary. We were about one block south of that, right in front of the Garden. We almost bailed when we saw the smoke. But there was no way out! Then it looked like it was over so we forged on.

The dragon was about a block ahead. My friend was already overheated so we took advantage of them letting us out the side of the march and went into a pub for some water and a rest. Then she went home and I picked up the march again at 33rd and 5th. Were you near the pig?
BTW, the chemical smell we noticed around 23rd street may have been accelerant for the dragon. At the time, we didn't know if it was an accident or deliberate.

Sorry we didn't see you! :hi:

Don't think for one minute that you were! I am a child of the 60's. I've seen my share of protests and NYC did us proud today!

No commentary, no censoring, just showing the marchers. It was fantastic - I actually got tears in my eyes seeing my fellow Americans out there in massive numbers protesting.

One of C-SPAN's cameras was right by the FAUX News bigscreen and/or studios because you would occasionally hear the anti-FAUX chants. "FOX News Sucks!" Hehehe

On edit: One scene I caught was a woman with a sign that said "MORE FUCKING, LESS FIGHTING!" She went up to cops with it and the cameras would usually catch the cops smiling and laughing. What a great scene.

This is a guy who can't STAND watching parades on TV. Couldn't take my eyes off C-Span for about two hours. Thanks for going and representing those of us who couldn't be there!

with comments from those of us who were watching and posting here.
A Huge Thank you and :grouphug: to all of you there. It was spectacular to all of us who watched it. See other comments on this post:
Thttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2280196

for doing what I and millions of others couldn't do today.

I watched on C-SPAN all afternoon. The crowds looked HUGE. People looked happy, all social classes, ages, races, etc. well represented.

Some handmade signs were hilarious. "Snake dance" with people of all colors, etc. in an intersection was beautiful.

Shots from the blimp and crane shots showed hundreds of thousands of people.

A lot of cops I saw on ledges and street corners actually looked a tad bored.

The fire was a huge paper dragon. Don't know who lit it up.

Thanks for going!

That burning thing in front of you was a dragon float that was set on fire. Who did it is in dispute, but my opinion is that it was anarchist jerks.

Anyhow, the very cool thing about it was that you guys, in the group that was held up while the flames were put out, just waited calmly and the situation didn't escalate.

Someone was even chanting "Peaceful Protest".

There were hundreds of thousands of you filling blocks and blocks and blocks and you were amazing!

CSPAN was with you the whole time. I didn't see the other networks, but I understand that Faux and CNN were interested only in the burning part.

But despite all that, you were AWESOME!

Thank you!

FOX showed video of a couple of people being arrested. They must have missed the other 399,998 marchers.

First of all, I didn't see what Fox showed. As I said, I was watching CSPAN streaming video. I understand that FOX paid no attention to the march until there was something negative to portray. What did I say that wasn't true?


:shrug:

in the post.

:toast:

.

I wish I could of been there .

Live, uninterrupted, and without commentary (just the way I like it).

I was amazed at the number of people; the marchers went past the camera position for more than 4 hours! Hard for me to think like a Midwesterner, but I didn't see many in the crowd who looked the least bit menacing or threatening or freaky.

A good many of the handmade signs were sincere, witty, and occasionally raucously vulgar but still on-point.

Most memorable moment: the lining up and display of the flag-draped "caskets." If that doesn't make the cover of Time, Newsweek, and the major papers, then the fix is in.

Good job. Be proud.

She voted for * in 2000 and my dad says he voted for Nader. Anyways, she really enjoyed it. Loved the variety of people and the fact that they were all on the phone.

She just chuckled when I pointed out that there was a persistent chant of "Fox News Sucks." She will vote for Kerry because he is a Catholic.

I was out all day working, but when I came home, I found CSPAN replaying moderately long segments of it. I and my daughter and her friend (high school seniors) gathered around the tv.

We also watched (forgot what channel) some of the brutal footage of the Chicago riots.

The NY protests looked well organized, peaceful, and HUGE. It made us proud - and I think the footage from Chicago worked to put it into perspective as a historic event.

but what did that topless woman have on her nipples?

and some of them had protest stickers. There were quite a few young topless women with stickers on their nipples. It was really funny. It was hot!

like big clunky boxes on them

But clearly you should investigate that. Sounds pretty interesting!

i definately need to show up

Brilliant choice of camera location! They set it up right next to a big FOX billboard, and a lot of the people that marched by were chanting "fox news sucks" and other good stuff. FOX took a major beating today. I'll bet they couldn't watch more than two minutes of it without hearing the chant! Great job everybody!!!!!!!

They were just before we took the turn at 34th, and the Fox billboard was sort of over there shoulder behind them. It's kind of too bad because there were better chants than that and it was irresistable not to yell at that Fox sign.

Sadly, the national media continues to ignore peace marches.

I remember after Reagan died, seeing a piece on CNN about 12 people holding a candle-light vigil outside the whitehouse.

12 PEOPLE (!!!!) is newsworthy and important.

400,000 is (yawn) not.


(the yawn is from the big media).

and I wanted to be there with you. C-Span did a great job of covering the whole 4-1/2 hrs. with even a call in period afterward. Mostly very positive comments about the protesters and gratitude to C-Span for covering the event. You all made us proud and your act today gives us all renewed energy to get this job done on Nov. 2. THANK YOU! Lots of threads today on DU about what was happening. We were all watching.:toast: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Evening news, cable news, etc. dismissed the whole thing? That's really a huge drag. I didn't think they would follow it continuously all day but I thought they would tune in and report occasionally throughout the day. No?

Several large (huge) crowd shots, a short interview with a very articulate woman saying the whole mood was celebratory, very positive about this being what democracy is all about. They mentioned that the feeling is that the media tends to underestimate crowd size.

Cut back to Wolf Blitzer, saying he's heard it's been remarkably peaceful, back to reporter on the street, confirming that. Saying there have been a few isolated arrests, but overall, extremely peaceful.

They mentioned that the march itself was powerful, and also that a lot of the slogans on the signs were equally powerful.

in her closing remarks ("EXTREMELY peaceful") almost as though this was a big surprise to her, too.

I tell ya, folks, they have misjudged us. They've completely and flat-footedly misunderestimated us.

Apparently the CBS evening news and NBC nightly news had it - another DUer posted earlier - with positive coverage, and apparently everyone who reported on it COULD NOT HELP but comment on the size of the turnout. It was unavoidable. Of course, they're slathering themselves all over the upcoming convention now, so the march is passe. But I'll bet those numbers won't soon be forgotten. They're gonna gnaw at somebody, or a few somebodies. Other evidence: Clear Channel, noticing the audience numbers, is increasing its liberal on-air fare in several markets, mainly by clearing Air America on a small number of its stations. That's not likely to stay a small number, either. In one market alone, its newly liberal-ized station went from 26th place - to THIRD. Numbers like that speak for themselves. And, believe me, they speak REALLY loudly. The numbers today will NOT have gone completely unnoticed, believe me.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2279335&mesg_id=2279335


Ralph Reed vs Wolf Blitzer

from the park-said the cops were friendly and were enjoying looking at the pretty girls walking around---sounds to me that the terrorists are using pretty girls to distract the police

And we enjoyed it so much!

See some of the threads...we watched & celebrated it together!!!

Great job, Stephanie.

You were marching for all of us, who couldn t be there.

The only coverage I could find of the march was CSPAN and, as other have said ti was great to just get the sight and sound without some pundit telling you how to feel about it or some other nonsense. CSPAN seemed to cut to the burning dragon after the fire had just started. It burned quickly and they seemed to let it burn for a few minutes then they hit it with foam and then water from hoes and then they cleared it.

Thinking this might be just the event that netowrks would need to justify cutting in, I did a quick dial search. None of the majors took it live. I put on fresh shoes and went on to Central Park after they got the fire out.

This is beautiful. Very positive story on the protest, with good coverage of the crowds. And now, just a couple minutes later, coverage of the welcome rally for Cheney, with the most pathetic and sparse looking crowd ever, on Ellis Island. And now back to the protest again. Excellent contrast!

I don't know how much they will show but it just started.

That was just a blip and now they are going with Booknotes.

Thank You
BTW...CSPAN indicated they would cut away for Buxh's speech, then canceled it and stuck with the march.

I love Quagmire Accomplished!

C span was great. Zeroed in on a lot of signs...and regular people
and the coffins...although when they saw a guy with giant spiked hair
and a gal with weird hair, they special zweeroed in on that which didnt look great

And dontcha know, Fox showed the fire like it was a rowdy parade..that's
the only part Fox showed.

For sure we heard Fox sucks a lot. :)

And hearing "this is what democracy looks like" - raised bumps.

ever spent in front of a tv set. Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and a multitude of races coming together in NYC to say a loud "NO" to chimpco and the repukes. It was awesome. My favorite protestor sign read "Bush is a dumbass" which expresses my sentiments exactly. I am 3000 miles away, but I was with all of you in spirit. Today gave me hope.

and people from everywhere else, wearing great slogans.


New York TV had it on, but it is disappointing that CNN and other networks didn't. Will be interesting to see what weekday network news shows this week.

Hey, Stephanie, and thanks for taking care of Andy. You must be dog tired!

By the way, you can spot the Republican delegates a mile away. (and are white shoes, white belts required attire for the old guys?)

ran a good report on the protest, mentioning that it was the biggest ever at a political convention, numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and that it was peaceful. They also ran a story about a small march (approximately 300 people) that marched from Fort Lee to Manhattan over the George Washington Bridge, and it looked good, too. Positive reporting from NJ local news, at least.