Up to the minute protest coverage

[jackola]

It's amazing to read through IndyMedia's coverage of the Inauguration protest.

Examples:
7:25pm Republican assaulted photographer taking pictures, while police looked on; no action was taken by the police;

3:18pm Pepper spray and tear-gas directed at protestors at 15th and Pennsylvania; at least 50 injured protestors; reports from police of "chest pains" in protestor; mainstream media journalists being hit with pepper spray; reports of bleeding from injured protestors;


Check it out!

It's a shame that in this society, protesting is basically illegal while Bush is in office. It shouldn't be.

You know what protesting does?

It represents the people that can't pay the millions needed to have their voices heard. The easiest way to avoid the common people is to block them altogether and take control of the media.

Comments

[gifa.livejournal.com]

I am very interested in finding out how the Turn your Back on Bush crowd did.. I haven't seen or heard ANYTHING about it... have you?

[jackola.livejournal.com]

nope, not yet... hopefully they update their website.

<3 internets.

[matintin.livejournal.com]

What makes it worse is that the inaugural address uses the words "freedom" or "liberty" like they were water and Shrub's pants were on fire.

Especially here:

[matintin.livejournal.com]

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

[oldirty.livejournal.com]

i obviously dont know you. but i came across your journal and i have some commentary.

1) how can an organization call itself "indy" or "independent" but obviously and blatantly ally itself with a certain group of people or beliefs? isn't journalism supposed to be unbiased?
"protest coverage" shows the bias; were it neutral, would it not be "inauguration coverage" and include news both of the inauguration itself as well as the many protests going on as comprehensive coverage of the entire event?
indymedia doesn't separate fact from opinion and is just as bad as fox news.
2) "republican assaulted..." how can you tell someone is a republican?
3) reports of "mainstream media journalists"...why aren't the journalists or the media they work for cited? i'm sure they'd be known, after all, they were reporting from the scene and presumably caught on film.

i think before any conclusions can be made based on this source it needs to be seriously evaluated.

[jackola.livejournal.com]

(1) are you saying in order to be unbiased they have to NOT cover this? Do you realize what bias means? The mainstream media is very biased because they DON'T cover this sort of thing. Indy Media covers what the mainstream doesn't. Calling it "protest coverage" is just fine, because, well, it's coverage of the protest. Should they have called it "not the inauguration coverage but something else that isn't the protest"?

(2) you can tell someone is republican if they make it known. it's pretty easy to in the midst of a protest.

(3) "mainstream" could mean anything, you're right. But you know what? In this country we have freedom of the press... and that freedom should not cost $$$ in order to act on it. they were likely turned away because they didn't buy passes.

[starliner.livejournal.com]

Jack...You know where my political affiliations lay, but this guy does have a point. There are as many bias, half truth sites on both sides. It isn't just what you report on but how you do it. If you do it with inflammatory headlines, you can make a little old lady crossing the street a national security threat. Sad to say, I don't believe that there is an un-bias media outlet...they all have an agenda they are at least leaning toward. When sources aren't sited and can't be verified, the statements are meaningless.

[oldirty.livejournal.com]

Nonono, the opposite - not covering protesting is just as bad as only covering protesting. By covering one side of the event you obviously throw your support in one side's favor. Journalism is supposed to present all the facts and let the viewer decide.

[sisyphus238.livejournal.com]

It's Animal Farm and 1984 all rolled into one.

[midnightquill.livejournal.com]

I was planning on getting to the protests this morning with a friend, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to be there in person... we stopped at a small diner in NW and watched it on the TV instead. The atmosphere has been so vehemently hostile for the past few days... after all, 90% of Washingtonians voted for Kerry! Smart, smart people.