The Washington Post placed its March for Life story on page A-10 today (making it more of a national than local story), below a story on the Supreme Court striking down a California sentencing law. The account by reporters Michael Alison Chandler and Michelle Boorstein is a respectful recounting of the march and both sides of the abortion debate.
The story was illustrated by color photos, but in a far too common tactic, the Post balanced a picture of four pro-life demonstrators with "Defend Life" signs in daylight against a photo of four or five feminists with "Keep Abortion Legal" signs at an evening Supreme Court vigil. One side turns out tens of thousands, and the other turned out tens. The Post didn't exactly balance its photos when it came to illegal-alien rallies, not to mention the number of column inches was vastly larger.
At least the Post news article began with the phrase, "Tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched through melting snow on the Mall yesterday." Online, the Post story doesn't carry the feminist photo, but it does have a nice Post.com video of the March which gives you a better sense or feel of the event.
It would be nice for the Post to use a broader photo showing the size of the crowd. But I have no doubt that considering the Democratic majorities in the new Congress, Post staffers felt the pro-life protest couldn't be less relevant or newsworthy.
PS: The award for Phony Baloney Quote of the Day was this:
"We wish those people who are coming in town for a great adventure one day a year would join with us to put forth a prevention-first agenda that would significantly reduce the need for abortion," said Jatrice Martel Gaiter, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington.
With its status as the nation's leading corporate mega-provider of fetal death, Planned Parenthood championing "prevention first" is like Burger King running a "Heart Smart" campaign.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Laura Ingraham said yesterday
January 23, 2007 - 09:34 ET by msh1973Laura Ingraham said yesterday on her show that the WashPost never puts this march on the front page (media bias) So, this is no big surprise. They also under estimate the number who march.
Great closing line, Tim.The d
January 23, 2007 - 09:39 ET by Chris NormanGreat closing line, Tim.
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
What are you talking about?
January 23, 2007 - 11:37 ET by Hyunchback"We wish those people who are coming in town for a great adventure one
day a year would join with us to put forth a prevention-first agenda
that would significantly reduce the need for abortion"
Um, pardon me, but this is idiocy. There is no pro-life organization I'm aware of that runs around promoting unprotected sex. Pretty much all of them promote abstinence, the only proven method to prevent pregnancy 99.99999999% (there was that one time, around 2000 years ago).
Planned parent hood wants to promote methods that have lesser effectiveness.
Seems to me the pro-life side DOES promote prevention first. Not "kinda sorta" prevention first.
The people who flush more bab
January 23, 2007 - 12:28 ET by truthsquadThe people who flush more babies down the drain than Planned Parenthood are the fertility clinics and the people who use them. The number of fertilized embryos that are destroyed in this process is astounding. These clinics and the people who use them make Planned Parenthood look Lilliputian in scale.
When is the pro-life movement going to start addressing this 'inconvenient truth' and start shutting these places down?
please clarify, thruthsquad
January 23, 2007 - 12:50 ET by tumbler_2007Clarify this statement, would you?
It seems you're exonerating Planned Parenthood. Do you say this?
As for the fertility clinics, these are also destrucive, but in a different way. I can explain, but let's see your take.
Tim, I found these great pic'
January 23, 2007 - 12:53 ET by JABTim, I found these great pic's (http://picasaweb.goo...) to add some serious dept to your article. Michelle (http://www.michellem...) had the link in one of her posts.
P.S. sorry for the full links - no link button appearing in the tool bar today???
"Too bad Ignorance isn't painful to the Ignorant"