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Title: Media Silent as Thousands March on Washington DC, 400 Arrested
Source:
The Anti-Media
URL Source: http://theantimedia.org/media-silent-march-on-washington/
Published: Apr 13, 2016
Author: Claire Bernish
Post Date: 2016-04-14 00:09:18 by Hondo68
Keywords: None
Views: 5778
Comments: 36
(ANTIMEDIA) Washington, D.C. — Over 400 people were arrested on Monday as they participated in Democracy Spring at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. — but, unsurprisingly, corporate mainstream media completely missed the mark, devoting a mere 30 seconds of inaccurate coverage to the event. Democracy Spring describes itself as a movement to “take back our democracy” by employing “mass nonviolent action,” such as a week of sit-ins, on an “historic” scale. While Monday’s mass arrest of no less than 400 people — including journalists — certainly were historic, cable news outlets’ coverage essentially ignored what was happening. As The Intercept noted, CNN completely skipped coverage of both the sit-in and the arrests. “MSNBC mentioned the protests for approximately 12 seconds, while Fox News mentioned the arrests and discussed the protests for about 17 seconds.” Even worse, the two outlets narrowly skewed their reports, describing the massive movement’s targeted concern as “voting rights issues.” Though the massive protest movement’s goal to conduct a “bold intervention to turn the tinder of passive public frustration into a fire that transforms the political climate in America, that sparks a popular movement that can’t be stopped” certainly includes voting rights, cable news’ misrepresentation trivializes Democracy Spring’s rather significant intentions. CNN later attempted to rectify its error with a brief article online, and a few mainstream outlets — NPR, Al Jazeera, and CSPAN — did devote serious attention to the protests, but cable news bills itself as ostensibly specializing in U.S. political news, explained The Intercept. So where was the coverage? Social media acted as the de facto news agency, as Twitter exploded the hashtag #DemocracySpring — tweeted well over 136,ooo times — and posts to the organization’s Facebook group and event page circulated widely. Alternative and independent media, as usual, also provided coverage from and of the protest and subsequent arrests. But there are several reasons for the cable news’ attempt to shovel Democracy Spring’s newsworthiness into the dustbin. Perhaps most telling remains the oft-quoted statistic that 90 percent of media in the United States — including the aforementioned cable outlets — are owned by a mere six corporations. Considering corporate influence via its infusion of cash in politics, Democracy Spring’s stated intention of wresting back control of the political process from “big money” makes it a prime adversary of the very news outlets which should be covering such a politically-vital event. This is why virtually every activist and independent media journalist you will ever encounter call those big ‘news’ outlets the ‘corporate media,’ with their so-called professional journalists beholden to report what those outlets’ owners dictate as newsworthy — and to ignore what isn’t. Indeed, challenging the status quo and removing the corruptive influence of the incestual relationship between politicians, media conglomerates, and their corporate overlords comprise the bulk of what Democracy Spring stands for. So though it’s not shocking that cable news failed miserably in its journalistic duties, it must also be noted 277 million Americans continue to rely on corporate media for their news and information. While that has been changing, with both social media and reputable independent media taking a direct stand against the corporate-political narrative, the arrests of over 400 concerned advocates of democracy in the nation’s capitol probably went completely unnoticed by tens, if not hundreds, of millions. Activist Bernard Alvarez poses with retired police captain-turned activist Ray Lewis. Democracy Spring continues this week with sit-ins and protests. According to the organization’s website, over 3,500 people have signed on to risk likely arrest in order to have their grievances addressed — whether corporate media feels that’s newsworthy or not. To wit, before the arrests began, livestreamers captured the crowd chanting, “Where is CNN?” Poster Comment: Record for most people arrested at one protest. Hundreds of “Democracy Spring” protesters have been arrested on the steps of the US Capitol. Thousands of activist arrived in Washington DC, after a ten day, 140-mile (225km) march from Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell, in protest against corruption in politics. Starting April 11th, thousands of Americans will sit-in on the US Capitol in Washington, DC in what will be the largest act of civil disobedience this century. According to Russia Today the protest appears to have broken the record for the number of people arrested at the US Capitol. Police announced they “ran out of space” for arrested activists, Ruptly’s Paulina Leonovich reported. At least 10 buses have been used to transport arrestees from the sit-in at the Capitol. “People are fed up with the system, they are fed up with the corruption, and we want free and fair elections,” Cenk Uygur, host of the TV show Young Turks and one of the participants in the protest, told RT. “This is our core American right.” Arrests being lined up in front of a police bus. “The fight begins today. It doesn’t mean we win today. But in the end, we always win,” Uygur said. “Progressives have never lost. We won in civil rights, we won in women’s rights, we won in gay rights, and we’re going to win in getting our democracy back.” With the goal “to claim the democracy we were promised”, various advocacy groups headed up by Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen and 99Rise.org, plan to hold a “mass sit-in” over the next eight days in the hope of persuading Congress to tackle “corruption of big money in politics and ensure free and fair elections”, according to campaign director Kai Newkirk. In addition to putting their bodies on the line, activists will use technology to hold “call-in days”, submit online petitions, and organize “Twitter storms” to raise awareness of their campaign, which they have described as “one of the largest civil disobedience actions in a generation.” After arriving in DC on Sunday, organizers held civil disobedience training for activists ahead of Monday’s advance on the Capitol, with attendance higher than expected. Some attendees are understood to have been turned away due to the large number of people and asked to return for Monday’s training classes instead, which have also attracted large crowds. “We hope that it will be the beginning of the end of the corruption of our democracy,” Newkirk told RT, stressing their main pledge is to make Congress pass “four bills that we’re pushing for,” referring to theGovernment by the People Act, Fair Elections Now Act, the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 &Voter Empowerment Act of 2015, and the Democracy for All Amendment. While the first day of the sit-in includes everyone, organizers have drawn up a schedule of events with each day focusing on a different theme and demographic, including elders, young folks, students, and activists from racial justice and labor solidarity movements.
Hundreds Arrested At ‘Democracy Spring’ Sit-In At The US Capitol
#DemocracySpring
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#1. To: sneakypete, Fred Mertz, *Bill of Rights-Constitution* (#0)
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#2. To: hondo68 (#1)
How are a bunch of "progressives" that demand communism being ignored a bad thing? America would be a better place if they were all shipped off to Cuba. It's people like this that have been working hard to destroy America ever since the 20's.
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