Media Largely Ignored March for Life, Provided Biased Abortion Coverage

LifeNews.com ^ | January 27, 2004 | Steven Ertelt

[Got a right to Life? . . Huh?]

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- While one media outlet, ABC News, has already been criticized for its biased coverage of the 2004 March for Life, a comprehensive analysis by a media watchdog group shows that the national media largely ignored the 2003 pro-life march as well.

The Media Research Center conducted an analysis of the 2003 March for Life coverage and found that national outlets spent more time covering a much smaller anti-Bush, anti-war protest that occurred just four days earlier.

ABC, CBS, and NBC aired 26 segments on the anti-war march, 14 of them before the rally began. The coverage included stories which emphasized the protesters’ diversity, including political diversity.

"Braving frigid temperatures," ABC's Lisa Sylvester proclaimed on the January 19 World News Tonight, "they traveled across the country -- black and white, Democrat and Republican, young and old."

The coverage, print and broadcast, excised speeches from the podium, from rally organizer Ramsey Clark's call for President Bush's impeachment to a man decrying the Bush administration as "greedy imperialist murderers."

On the other hand, the networks focused much less attention on the large March for Life. They offered only nine stories (four of them beforehand) and most of the stories covered the abortion debate in general and "made only oblique references" to the March for Life, MRC notes.

"Not one network news story had the pro-life demonstrations as its central topic, in contrast to 26 that featured anti-war protesters," the MRC analysis indicated.

The news coverage also blurred the difference between the more than 100,000 people that attended the March for Life and several dozen that attended pro-abortion rallies or counterprotests.

That evening, CBS's Dan Rather obscured the counts this way: "Tens of thousands of demonstrators on both sides of the issue filled the streets of Washington today."

Reporters also failed to describe the diversity of the pro-life march participants, the Media Research Center notes. Instead, they highlighted the fringe and a few extreme elements.

NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reported on a "crowd" that was later described as "a dozen or so" by the Buffalo News: "Today, supporters of James Kopp the man who confessed to the killing [of abortion practitioner Barnett Slepian in 1998], have come to Buffalo to claim the shooting was justified."

On CBS, reporter Jim Axelrod held up the "small number of demonstrators" as "telling," since the Slepian shooting was "an example of how abortion is redder than any other red meat social issue in America. It's the one producing the most violence." Axelrod spoke over video of a bomb going off.

ABC News was recently criticized for completely ignoring the 2004 March for Life. Instead, the network news channel covered Wesley Clark expanding on his pro-abortion position.

The only other abortion coverage from ABC News was on their web site, where the news outfit feature two pro-abortion articles. One lumped the pro-life movement in with violence extremists and the other accused the Bush administration of sacrificing women's lives because of a pro-life foreign policy prohibiting taxpayer funding of groups that promote or perform abortions in other countries.

"If it were up to the networks alone, only the pro-life movement would need to struggle to be heard," MRC concluded.

[Got a right to Life? . . Huh?]

Our local Support Life Rally was held on the steps of our county government building with a current County Commissioner giving the keynote speech. There was no mention of our event in the local news paper or on the local television news.

[Free_at_last_-2001]

The media biased? I'm shocked I tells ya shocked!

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[The_Eaglet]

This is a wake-up call that Pro-lifers who want to influence public policy need to contact their legislators directly before doing public demonstrations. The media may never convey the impact of the demonstrations to them if legislators are not present to observe.

Public demonstrations are also important, but direct individual communication should be attempted first.

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[ppaul]

The news coverage also blurred the difference between the more than 100,000 people that attended the March for Life and several dozen that attended pro-abortion rallies.....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001842194_watch23.html

Friday, January 23, 2004, 12:00 A.M. Pacific

Capital Watch
Abortion foes march in D.C. to repeal law

WASHINGTON - Thousands of abortion protesters, some carrying signs that said "American Holocaust" and "I regret my abortion," marched from the White House to the Supreme Court yesterday to mark the 31st anniversary of the decision that established a woman's right to the procedure.

The day of demonstrations against the court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade began with a Mass and rally attended by Catholic bishops and a crowd of about 15,000, mostly teenagers.

President Bush called in a brief statement, telling anti-abortion marchers they were gathered for "a noble cause."

"The right to life does not come from government, it comes from the creator of life," the president said from Roswell, N.M., where he was wrapping up a two-day trip.

A smaller group of abortion-rights activists said it largely focused on lobbying on Capitol Hill for legislation to reverse limits on reproductive freedom imposed since 1973.

Those activists planned a march for April 25. "Anti-choice zealots want to impose their views and theology on the rest of us, and that's just not right," said Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

a Mass and rally attended by Catholic bishops and a crowd of about 15,000, mostly teenagers.

See how the leftist media promotes "the big lie"?
The crowd was estimated to be as much as 300,000. But they bury this article inside the paper, and try to diminish the impact.

[ppaul]

Media FReepers Largely Ignored March for Life this thread

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

This is a wake-up call that Pro-lifers who want to influence public policy need to contact their legislators directly before doing public demonstrations.

I wonder if it would be best to block the entrances to liberal news media outlets with the protests. Maybe that way the protest would get reported. Of course in a bad, biased, way, but still reported.

[RobbyS]

You mean likew organizing a march that would pack pack Times Square udring the Broadcast of Good Morning America or Rockefeller Center during the broadcast of the Today Show?

[firebrand]

I'm glad this wasn't put in Breaking News. : )

[firebrand]

Not a bad idea, Robby.

[Coleus]

You mean like organizing a march that would pack pack Times Square during the Broadcast of Good Morning America or Rockefeller Center during the broadcast of the Today Show?>>>>

Sounds like a great idea!

[RobbyS]

Rockefeller Center would be the easiest to do. Just have a couple hundred people show up and hold up Respect Life signs behind Katie when she comes out. If the cameras cut away, just chant something inocuous, like "respect Life" for thirty seconds or so then stop. Nothing disruptive.

[firebrand]

We must have some form of costumes for this if we do it so they will at least consider showing us on camera. Even all the same T-shirt would do. Let's think on it and maybe do it for the big celebrate-abortion day coming up.

[viaveritasvita]

Note to self: Send to personal email distribution.

<><

[Maeve]

BIG BUMP

[Coleus]

How early in the morning do we have to get there???

[RobbyS]

The show starts at 7.PM. Need to get there about an hour befoe to get a good place. There's a great coffe and pastry shop right there.

[Salvation]

Pro-lifie bump.

Forget the media.........they can't tell me how to think!