Media Matters for America

For WashPost, right-wing protesters are Page One news; in 2002 liberal war protesters were not

September 13, 2009 11:04 am ET - by Eric Boehlert

Behold the media's glaring double standard. Today, the Post puts the "tens of thousands" of Obama-hating tea bagger protesters on A1; makes it the lead story as a matter of fact.

Back in 2002, when more than 100,000 anti-war protesters gathered in the nation's capitol to protest the Bush administration, the same WashPost did its best to ignore them

The Washington Post put the story not on the front page, but in the Metro section with, as the paper's ombudsman later lamented, "a couple of ho-hum photographs that captured the protest's fringe elements."

This simply proves again that when right-wing (and mostly white) conservatives get angry, it's big news. When liberals get angry, it's just annoying.

UPDATED: Credit goes to the NYT for being consistent. In 2002, the newspaper kept its article about the massive anti-war rally off Page One. Today, it kept its article (but not photo) about the much smaller 9/12 rally off Page One.

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