[lbo-talk] Covering Protests: the Iraq War and the Terri Schiavo Case

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Tue Mar 22 12:39:32 PST 2005



>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>I realized that conservative protesters in the Terri Schiavo case
>>got the front page treatment in the national edition.
>
>Well, they've got about 30% of the US pop, huge church
>organizations, a big chunk of Congress, and the White House on their
>side. It's not just the protesters - it's a well-organized movement
>with a large social base. If we had that, we'd be on the front page
>too.
>
>Doug

It is possible that the majority of New York Times readers -- who I imagine are relatively affluent, given the paper's price -- now believe that US troops should stay in Iraq "until there is a stable government there." Even before the invasion of Iraq, though, the New York Times never put any anti-war demonstration -- even the largest global mobilization on February 15, 2003 -- on the front page. (The New York Times did put the August 29, 2004 demonstration against the Republican National Convention on its front page, with a big photo of a huge round No-to-Bush banner, but that's only because the paper itself was rooting for John Kerry, eventually endorsing his candidacy in the editorial page.) So, it fits into the paper's tradition to ignore anti-war protests. Unless anti-war protesters pull off something as militant and photogenic as the Battle of Seattle, the anti-war movement is likely to remain on the back of the media bus until the war is over!

As for the Schiavo case, it makes sense for the White House and Congress to give anti-abortionist protesters a symbolic day in the sun, so to speak, as those who share their belief are a voting bloc. But why should the New York Times? Most anti-abortionists won't buy the paper anyway. The majority of Times readers (as well as Times reporters, editors, and publisher) are probably socially liberal (if the rich and powerful among them are also economically neoliberal) and are unlikely to look favorably upon anti-abortionists led by James "Bo" Gritz and the like. -- Yoshie

* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>



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