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The Tea Party had stronger numbers on 9-12. AP Photo David Becker
After the 9-12 Tea Party protest a debate emerged regarding the crowd size estimates. Organizers of the event like Glenn Beck said that over 500,000 were at the rally while more "conservative" estimates like those from the Washington D.C. Fire Department had the crowd being a much smaller 60,000-70,000. Even the lower estimate is a respectable number of people for a protest on Capitol Hill and the event certainly received a lot of coverage from all the networks.
Last week at the invitation of Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) the Tea Party once again showed up at Capitol to protest and lobby Congress to reject the Democrat's health care reform plan. Once again afterward a debate would emerge regarding the size of the crowd that came to the event. Liberals claimed the crowd size was anywhere from 3,000-8,000 while Bachmann claimed that 20,000-45,000 attended. A more unbiased source in the Washington Post put the number at around 10,000.
Not surprisingly Fox News tended to support the larger of the crowd size estimates. Sean Hannity led this charge showing clips of a large protest around Capitol Hill. However as Jon Stewart points out in the video clip below Hannity was actually showing footage of the 9-12 Tea Party protest and trying to pass it off as footage of the Bachmann event. So in the end Hannity used one event with allegedly over-hyped crowd size numbers to promote another event with allegedly over-hyped crowd size numbers.
Comments
Official count on 912 was 500K at 11 AM, and by afternoon it was 1.7M.
Often when the techs play 'file footage', they bring up tea partiers and the host has no way of controlling it. Footage like that is intended to be general like when the network has the title 'file footage' of an area they are talking about to indicate it may not necessarily be that day.
I doubt Hannity even knew what clip was playing. But you people are losing it if that's all you're worried about.
What "official" said that? Have a source by any chance?
Hey "Goin' Down in '10":
A) No "File Footage" title was used.
B) The discussion was specifically about that day's rally, not rallies in general. Hannity's and Bachmann's comments were in effect narrating the footage, which was a clear attempt by someone at Fox to misrepresent the size of the crowd.
C) Why do you let people manipulate you into believing lies? Have you no self respect or concern for what could be in your own best interest?
Who would believe anything Fox said after this? They clearly do not care about journalism and news, after this unethical journalism it is obvious the only thing Fox cares about about is ideology and propaganda not reporting the truth.
Since Fox has been accused of not being a real news station, you'd think they'd try their hardest to appear legit. The logical response to such an accusation would be a display of completely factual information and an appearance of professionalism. Whoever decided to use the wrong footage is surely too stupid to realize how such a misrepresentation only jeopardizes any view of legitimacy.... or he/she did it on purpose to further the appearance of an untrustworthy and manipulative "news" network.
This is hardly a misunderstanding. Fox already has a history of illigitimacy, and this only reinforces its reputation as a republican propaganda tool. I doubt there will be a public apology because Fox will try to keep any knowledge of the incident underground, and even if they do admit fault, it will certainly only be to salvage whatever is left of its credibility. My only fear is that incidents such as this go unnoticed. I am thankful that the daily show exposed this on national television, as 'god' knows nobody else would have.
Who would believe anything Fox said after this? They clearly do not care about journalism and news, after this unethical journalism it is obvious the only thing Fox cares about about is ideology and propaganda not reporting the truth.
hannity speaks the truth. i don't care what any one says. he fights for freedom and the constitution. he wasnt trying to mislead the public. he's an honorable man. more than the socialist in chief.
Liam: "I don't care what anyone says"...exactly. That is called blind faith.
Liam has clearaly made up his mind and does not wish to be confused by the facts.
I've said it before, I will say it again. Despite the format, John Stewart may well be the best "investigative journalist" in the U.S. today. Scary thought isn't it?
To be fair to Fox, Hannity is not considered part of their News organization. Then again, most of their headliners are not considered part of their News organization.
So why is the network called FOX NEWS?
'duhhh, I'm a close-minded fox vewerr... duhhh - Glenn Beck is my herrrooo, duuhhhhh, Sean Hannity will save da werald... I got a tax break from Obama but I still think it's unfare...'
sorry, when I see a post like that from Goin' Down in '10, this is all I hear . . .
If you are as outraged about this as I am, I strongly encourage you to file a complaint to the FCC here:
esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
The appropriate Complaint Type is "Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues" and the Complaint Category is "Unauthorized, unfair, biased, illegal broadcasts" (the form states that this includes "Biased or distorted news stories by the media"). The original show aired on Fox News at 9:00 pm Eastern on November 5th 2009.
We have an avenue to correct this type of falsification and to make change we must make a complaint.
I would definately fill out a complaint on esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm if i was a US citizen. Unfortunately i am canadian.
THEMEDIA -
Thanks. Did and done. This is ridiculous.
Goin' Down in '10 says:
_____________
You folks are amazing. Always rationalizing away what's right in front of your face. Simultaneously sad and hilarious. Question fer ya, Fox "News" had a camera crew there. Why didn't they simply use the footage from the event? Answer: C L E A R L Y, they were trying to make the event appear bigger than it was. Why? Because Fox "News" is NOT A NEWS network. It is the propaganda arm of the GOP. Period. Earlier, a producer was caught on tape at one of these rallies stoking the crowd. A news network covers an event, UNBIASED. It doesn't stoke the crowd, it doesn't use file footage to make a crowd appear larger. You are truly blinded by the right.
And why should Faux News apologize or otherwise 'correct' its 'mistake' - when their target audience so readily buys any disinformation they broadcast - as clearly demonstrated here?
I attended the September 12th event in DC. The crowd was overwhelming. I spoke with several firemen and policemen who told me that the crowd was over 1 million people. One older policeman told me it was the largest by far organized march he had ever seen in DC
The DC Metro was so overwhelmed with passengers going to the event that they opened all the gates and directed people not to slow down to put their fare cards in the turnstiles. I was also told by the police that this has never happened before in the history of the DC metro.
The police and firemen were also quoted as saying that there was NO trash left behind on the mall or in the streets where we marched. We were a very lawful, well behaved crowd.
Too bad that folks who were not there and don't have a clue seem to think they can just throw out any lie and be believed.
It's wishful thinking on the part of the liberals, IMHO.
nowhere near 500k or a amillion it was 30k... The minority is still the minority....GTFO
If you don't like Fox News,don't watch it.I for one do like it.If you want "Bias" watch The Ed Show.Countdown,Rachel Maddow or any of the others on MSNBC.At least Fox wasn't bought by this administration!!!!!!
Lot's of hate filled Lefties out there. I'd put their number well over 1 million. Hate wins again!
Why is this so surprising? is it really shocking when a serial killer kills again?
I notice the Republicans , the vey ones who enacted the unconstitutional Patriot Act is now waving "Fair Tax' signs in rallys. I'n so glad the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that you are entitled to %100 of the fruits of YOUR labor. Now I know why I don't pay taxes, I don't support either side haha jokes on them.
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