Rah! Rah! ...Rah?

Feeling supremely elated and galvanised by yesterday's massive rally and march through downtown Seattle (which was accompanied by Martin Luther King's inspiring oration opposing the Vietnam War), I rushed home to watch the local news, certain that a showing of this size and energy couldn't possibly be downplayed.

Yet the "local" news' lead story was a ski-resort avalanche in British Columbia, which had killed seven or eight people. A tragedy, to be sure. But meriting top-story billing, and something like ten minutes' worth of coverage? If the news were to report with such zeal upon the killing, by Anglo/American-waged sanctions, of 250 children daily, perhaps we wouldn't be today peering into the precipice.

News of the march did come, eventually. To hear it told, several "hundred" people attended, the march comprising eight city blocks. I'm here to tell you, having seen it with my own eyes, that the march encompassed at least twenty city blocks, those blocks filled up with several thousand enthusiastic protesters.

Not that such misreporting is anything new. But given the magnitude of the event, it seems it would be more difficult to pull the wool over. Those of you sympathetic to the cause but unable to attend, know this: you're not alone, nor even remotely close to it.

Posted by Eddie Tews at January 21, 2003 03:27 PM