For almost a week, a caravan of vehicles calling themselves the “People’s Convoy” has been driving around the highway that encircles Washington, D.C., to protest pandemic restrictions that, for the most part, no longer exist. The convoy encompasses extremists including members of the anti-government "boogaloo" movement, participants in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

While the convoy has not entered the city, on March 8, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) met with organizers of the convoy, and on March 10, Cruz rode with the convoy in their protest on the D.C. Beltway.

Despite their continued presence in the area and the leaders’ meeting with senators, The Washington Post has barely mentioned these elements in its news coverage aside from some one-off references to the work of “extremism researchers.”

Researchers and academics who attended the trucker convoy have highlighted the participants’ extremist beliefs. Historian Terry Bouton, an associate professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, observed the rally in Hagerstown, Maryland, and wrote on Twitter that he saw the event as an attempt to mainstream right-wing extremism and recruit participants to right-wing causes. He saw expressions of “Christian Nationalism mixed with QAnon spiritualism” among the crowd, and he noted that therewere “plenty of Proud Boys” in attendance. Documentarian Ford Fischer shot interviews at the rally with a member of the extreme-right boogaloo movement and a person wearing armor of the Knights Templar, often associated with white nationalism. Bouton wrote that “‘J-6ers’ wore their participation in the Capitol Insurrection as a badge of honor.”

The Washington Post is both a major national newspaper and a local outlet covering the D.C. metropolitan area. Yet the paper has barely reported on the extremist elements present in the large right-wing protests that have been circling the Beltway for days, outside of its editorial section and one story about the fraudulent financial dealings of a nonprofit that raised funds for the convoy, which noted that organizers have appeared on a TV platform created by MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.

In much of its recent news coverage of the convoy, the Post failed to mention participants’ and organizers’ connections to the January 6 insurrection, the QAnon conspiracy theory, white nationalism, and other far-right causes. Below are some examples of the Post’s latest news coverage of the convoy:

• On March 10, the Post reported that Cruz was joining the convoy to drive around D.C. in protest. The story never mentioned the group’s connections to QAnon, January 6, white nationalism, or other right-wing extremist movements.
• In a March 8 article on the convoy leaders’ meetings with GOP lawmakers, the Post referred to the convoy as a “group” that is pushing to “end workplace vaccine mandates and other government measures designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.” The article made no mention of the convoy’s connections to QAnon, January 6, or white nationalism.
• In an article written March 6 and updated March 7 on the convoy’s plans to meet with lawmakers, the Post described the convoy as a group that “says it wants to hold lawmakers accountable for the government’s pandemic responses.” The article never mentioned participants’ connections to QAnon, white supremacy, January 6, or any other right-wing extremism.
• A March 5 story about the convoy, updated on March 6, described it as “an armada of drivers” who want “an end to the national emergency declaration in response to the coronavirus.” The story did mention that some supporters of the convoy waved Confederate flags, but otherwise neglected to mention their connections to QAnon, January 6, and other right-wing extremist movements.
• On March 5, the Post published a story about the rally in Hagerstown. This story did acknowledge that “extremism researchers,” whom the Post did not name or credit, “say the demonstrators’ hostility toward the vaccines is just one of several anti-government, right-wing beliefs that they espouse.” The story noted that some participants’ trucks were “decorated with signs and messages referencing far-right political views and conspiracy theories.” It also quoted one participant who had come for the January 6 rally but claimed she didn’t know about the ensuing riot. The story did not, however, explicitly mention the participants’ connections to white supremacist groups or QAnon.

By largely failing to mention the convoy participants’ extremism, Washington Post news articles about the protests helped normalize their views, allowing them to repeat the claim that they are simply protesting COVID-19 restrictions and mandates that, for the most part, no longer apply. And while the convoy hasn’t inconvenienced commuters in the way originally intended, the extremism within their ranks should still be taken seriously.