jym@eris.berkeley.edu (& Dyer) (01/17/90)
> Have you ever been to an underattended event which got covered > by the evening news, and then later watch the news and see how > they made the 20 people involved look like hundreds? No. Never. Not even remotely. In fact, with one exception, I have never organized for or been at a demonstration that the media *hasn't* underreported by at least 20%. (Consequently, I automatically mentally add 20% when I read such numbers in the media.) Does anybody have any idea what can be done about this problem? I'm pretty sick of it, personally. How best to take the media to task for undermining our efforts? ::::.-----.:::::<_Jym_>::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::/ | \::::.-----.::::::::::::::::: Jym Dyer :::::::::::::::: ::/ | \::/ o o \:::::::::::jym@mica.berkeley.edu ::::::::: ::\ /|\ /::\ \___/ /::::::::: Berserkeley, California :::::::: :::\ / | \ /::::`-----'::::::::::::Dilute! Dilute! O.K.! ::::::::: ::::`-----'::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: P.S.: The "one exception" I alluded to above was a rally of the League for Programming Freedom against Lotus for their "look and feel" lawsuit. The media were paying most attention to Richard Stallman, and when I reported the count in my slurred manner of speech, they heard wrong. I reported something like 113 and they heard 130 (or it was 114 and 140, or 116 and 160, I don't remember exactly). Not that the coverage was particularly good anyhow. The story in the _Boston_Globe_ started off, "The nerds held a rally yester- day . . ."
7thSon@SLCS.SLB.COM (Chris Garrigues) (01/18/90)
From: jym@eris.berkeley.edu
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 90 19:22 CST
> Have you ever been to an underattended event which got covered
> by the evening news, and then later watch the news and see how
> they made the 20 people involved look like hundreds?
No. Never. Not even remotely.
You obviously don't go to enough right-wing events. They get covered
differently. :-)
I've seen this happen at non-political events that are covered for
"human interest". There's no human interest if it looks like nobody was
there. As far as political events that I've attended go, I have to
agree with you.
In fact, with one exception, I have never organized for or been at
a demonstration that the media *hasn't* underreported by at least
20%. (Consequently, I automatically mentally add 20% when I
read such numbers in the media.)
Does anybody have any idea what can be done about this problem?
I'm pretty sick of it, personally. How best to take the media
to task for undermining our efforts?
I've noticed that event organizers tend to over-estimate by about the
same amount as the media tends to under-estimate. Sometimes when you're
in the middle of the crowd it's very hard to tell the size of the group.
I recall one anti-central-american-intervention march that I was at
where my friend and I fell about 3 blocks behind to grab a quick bite to
eat and when we then looked down the hill at the march ahead of us
realized that the crowd was about half the size that we'd thought it
was. Naturally, the event organizers thought it was bigger than we did,
and the media thought it was smaller than we did.
[ . . . ]
Not that the coverage was particularly good anyhow. The story in
the _Boston_Globe_ started off, "The nerds held a rally yester-
day . . ."
~shrug~ That's how friends of mine who saw it described it as well.
People at Lotus thought it was worth a good chuckle.
Chris