Don’t expect any balance or objectivity in how the media will cover Saturday’s March for Our Lives rally. What is actually a call for massive gun control was portrayed by NBC’s Today show on Friday as a collective “protest voice” to “teach the grown-ups a lesson.”
With no mention of any of the Parkland students who support the Second Amendment, guest co-host Craig Melvin spun: “It's an anti-gun violence rally organized by students impacted by the Parkland school shooting and endorsed by a growing number of celebrities.”
Reporter Kerry Sanders again used the preferred language: “This morning, as many as a half million teenagers preparing to March against gun violence in Washington, D.C.” Even though the rally has a heavy Democratic presence, Sanders offered a childeren-will-lead-us description:
More than 800 marches are planned for Saturday, from Bismarck to Salt Lake City, Memphis to Springfield, Virginia, and everywhere in between, children now taking on a very adult topic, politics, and hoping they can teach the grown-ups a lesson.
What about pro-Second Amendment student Kyle Kashuv? He never came up on NBC.
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:
Today
3/23/18
7:15:45 to 7:18:26CRAIG MELVIN: Back here, up to a half million protesters are expected to flood the nation's capital tomorrow for the March for our lives. It's an anti-gun violence rally organized by students impacted by the Parkland school shooting and endorsed by a growing number of celebrities. NBC's Kerry Sanders is on Capitol Hill. Kerry, good morning to you.
KERRY SANDERS: Well, good morning, Craig. Most of the kids coming here are too young to vote, but their protest voice is gaining momentum. So they're bringing it here to the center of power, Washington. This morning, as many as a half million teenagers preparing to March against gun violence in Washington, D.C. And tens of thousands more will also raise their voices Saturday morning at similar protests across the country and even around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I've never felt so empowered before.
SECOND UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: We're changing the world.
SANDERS: For the kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the trip to the nation's capital, a mission.
NATALIE FEEHAN (High school student): I'm ready to do this. I'm ready to be with all these people and protest.
UNIDENTIFIED: And the message is?
FEEHAN: That this won't ever happen again. We're going to be the last ones.
SANDERS: After a gunman came on their Parkland, Florida, campus on Valentine's Day, killing 17. What started as yet another school shooting tragedy sparked a movement.
EMMA GONZALEZ: We call B.S.!
SANDERS: First in Florida, then across the nation. What are your expectations?
LIZZIE EATON (Stoneman Douglas student): That they will listen to us just because we're kids that they'll listen to us and give us a voice. And they'll hear us out, because we're smart kids and we want to use our knowledge to really make a change.
SANDERS: The Florida students in Washington expected to be joined by kids from just about every state.
JIMMY FALLON: I just want to say, I stand behind you guys.
SANDERS: And they're getting support from celebrities, too, including Jimmy Fallon, Miley Cyrus, George Clooney, and Oprah. 20 kids in vans from Marshall County High School in Louisville are making the trip to D.C. in memory of two students killed at their school in January.
PIPER HANSEN (Marshall County High School student): Just seeing how many school shootings there have been, you know, I could be a victim of this.
SANDERS: Thursday evening, former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence seven years ago, meeting some of the student protesters. More than 800 marches are planned for Saturday, from Bismarck to Salt Lake City, Memphis to Springfield, Virginia, and everywhere in between, children now taking on a very adult topic, politics, and hoping they can teach the grown-ups a lesson.
LUCY CALDERON (Marshall County High School student): The March is just the beginning until we get politicians to do what we want and to do what’s right.
SANDERS: Later today, many of the children who are here in Washington will meet with lawmakers to try to lobby them to limit with federal laws access to guns. Guys, back to you.
