<<http://www.fair.org/activism/womens-march-networks.html>>
Women's March Coverage Hard to Find on Television News May 3, 2004 On Sunday, April 25, hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Washington, D.C. to demonstrate for women's reproductive rights. Crowd estimates ranged from 500,000 to 1.15 million, but it was clear that the March for Women's Lives was one of the largest demonstrations in the capital's history-- and perhaps the largest ever. One might have expected, then, to see extensive coverage on national television-- but a look at both network and cable news during the days surrounding the march turned up remarkably few reports. A Nexis search of the week surrounding the women's march found a total of eight stories from the broadcast networks (not counting incidental mentions of the march): ABC, CBS, and NBC all ran two stories the day of the march; CBS also ran two stories the next morning.* CNN, as a 24-hour cable news outlet, gave more extensive coverage to the event, running several reports on Sunday. But even CNN failed to treat the march as the historic occasion that it was, running just a small handful of brief march-related stories on Saturday and Monday. Other cable news outlets focused not on the march itself but on abortion opponents, a few hundred of whom held a counter-protest at the march. Of three Fox News stories found on Nexis related to the march, two focused on anti-abortion activists (Special Report with Brit Hume, Hannity & Colmes, 4/22/04). Special Report examined anti-abortion opposition to the National Education Association's endorsement of the march-- a story that MSNBC also covered in that network’s only march report found in the Nexis database. (Fox and MSNBC do not transcribe their news coverage as thoroughly as CNN does, so the amount of coverage on the three cable channels cannot be compared.) To put the women's march coverage in perspective, FAIR conducted a similar Nexis search of the week surrounding the Promise Keepers march in 1997. The Promise Keepers, an evangelical men's organization that has been widely accused of promoting misogyny and homophobia, drew an estimated 480,000-750,000 demonstrators to Washington-- roughly three-quarters the size of the women's march. Despite its somewhat smaller size, the Promise Keepers received much more media attention: Stories began appearing on network news three days before the march and continued for two days afterward, with a total of 26 stories between the three broadcast networks-- more than three times the coverage the networks devoted to the women's march. Was the Promise Keepers march three times more newsworthy than the March for Women's Lives? Why such little coverage? Women's issues routinely get short shrift in the media, and during this election year, news outlets found even more reason to discount women's voices. NBC Nightly News reporter Jeannie Ohm asked (4/25/04), "But just how big a factor will abortion rights have in the November election?... Political analysts say it's the economy and jobs, war in Iraq, homeland security and health care that will have more of an impact with undecided voters." CNN correspondent Elaine Quijano sounded a similar note (4/25/04): "This election year, each group hopes to spark renewed interest, enough to have an impact at the ballot box. But political analysts say more than three decades after Roe v. Wade, most voters have already made up their minds." A record-breaking number of people-- mostly women-- marched on Washington to demonstrate their commitment to women's rights and their dissatisfaction with Bush's record on women's issues. By minimizing coverage of the event and reducing women's rights to a low-ranking concern in the presidential horse race, television news stifled critical public dialogue on women's rights and health, and relegated women and their concerns to the sidelines. Update: <<http://www.fair.org/activism/womens-march-update.html>> A May 3 FAIR Action Alert encouraged readers to contact the broadcast networks about the scant coverage given to the April 25 March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. CBS sent this response to FAIR activists: ------------------------------------------------------------ On April 25, The Evening News did two pieces on the march, therefore devoting a major portion of The Evening News that night to the march. CBS's other news programs also devoted time to covering the historic event. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Action Alert counted CBS Evening News's April 25 coverage as a single segment, although it involved reports by two separate correspondents joined by an anchor segue. (ABC's coverage of the march involved a similar double segment.) If you separate all double segments, CBS News had four stories on the March for Women's Lives, and the three broadcast networks together had eight. But applying the same standards to the Promise Keepers rally of 1997, which FAIR used to compare media attention, also increases the number of stories the networks devoted to that event. CBS News ran eight segments on the Promise Keepers march; the three networks combined ran 26. The question FAIR raised in our Action Alert remains: Why are the Promise Keepers, with a smaller demonstration, three times more newsworthy than the March for Women's Lives? ---- "I can't imagine that I'm going to be attacked for telling the truth. Why would I be attacked for telling the truth?" Paul O'Neill, 60 Minutes
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