(Source: babyvomit-, via martyr4love-deactivated20111212)
Because Tumblr user PoetFire asked: Most media outlets are reporting “hundreds” of protesters (or “more than 1,000”) at today’s Occupy Wall Street event. However, a Twitter meme going around today puts that number at closer to 50,000. Above is said tweet, via @AnonOps. Below is a fairly representative crowd shot of the protests, via Twitter user @EgyptEagle, a screenshot from a video of the protests, and (for comparison) an aerial screenshot from a video that showed the crowds at the Tea Party Express protest in Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, Nev. The Searchlight protest had a crowd of about 9,000 people. Do you see 50,000 people at today’s protests? We don’t. (BTW: If anyone has an aerial shot of today’s protests, please send it along.)
Why add an element to possibly discredit the protest by lying? From the 50-60 photos I’ve seen of the protest today, I’m certain there were nowhere near 50,000 people there.
There was also not “zero media.” One journalist from CNN tweeted extensively from the protest, spoke on CNN about the protest, wrote at least one piece and produced at least one video package. There were several media outlets with their own coverage, so one might assume at least a few of those journalists were on the scene. I’d argue the protest deserved more coverage, but some journalists were indeed doing their job today.
A protest can make an impact without an enormous number attached to it. Lying only harms the credibility of this potential movement.
(via jerriann)
