Thursday, April 13, 2006

Coverage Of The Illegal Immigration Protests

On Monday, I posted about a citizen journalism experiment at Powerline blog regarding the latest round of illegal immigration protests around the country. A summary of the results can be found in a follow-up Powerline post. The whole post is very interesting, but I found the following observation worthy of specific note.

International A.N.S.W.E.R. passed out thousands of mass-produced, yellow and black signs with exactly the same message. You can see them prominently displayed in our video footage from New York. Here, though, is what I think is even more interesting. At either of the two New York Times pages linked above, you can also link to the Times' own video of the New York demonstration. Take a look at it.

Look at the sea of yellow and black, International A.N.S.W.E.R. signs. They vastly outnumber all other signs and banners. They are the dominant visual image of the New York demonstration. It is inconceivable that the Times' reporters could have failed to note the prominent role played by A.N.S.W.E.R. in running the demonstration, or the dominant role played by that group in equipping the protesters with signs. Yet the organization's role was not acknowledged by the Times, or, to my knowledge, by any other newspaper. Why? The Times' reporters were obviously aware of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s prominent involvement, and thirty seconds' worth of research would have disclosed the fact that the group is an unabashedly Communist organization. It wouldn't have taken much more than that to learn that A.N.S.W.E.R.'s National Coordinator has said that illegal immigration can be the "catalyst for a broader class struggle, even possibly a revolutionary struggle."

As Glenn would say on Instapundit, read the whole thing.

Perhaps showing again how the media is falling out of touch with the thoughts of many Americans, a Zogby poll shows that the protests have had a negative impact on the cause of illegal immigration.