In this morning's paper was a story about a PETA protest that occurred in Peoria, Illinois Wednesday. The two protesters were arrested and taken to be booked. Interestingly, one was from Virginia and one from California. Don't these people have anything better to do? Let's travel the country and get arrested.
However, it jogged my memory about an incident I witnessed a couple of years ago. I was living in Tucson where protests seem to be rather common. They were protesting something "federal" but I can't remember what it was. Downtown Tucson has a federal office building on one corner of a major street. It houses the local IRS office among other agencies. Diagonally, across the street is the new federal court house.
Professionally, I am a tax consultant. I was walking to the IRS office when I saw this scene about 2:00p.m. one afternoon. About six adults were standing and sitting together (outdoor chairs) talking to each other. One was playing a guitar. Four or five yards away, a larger group of police officers were standing together talking to each other. A couple of officers were from the bike patrol and had their bikes with them. A camera crew was no where in sight. No reporters were visibly present. The only ones present other than me were the two groups mentioned talking in each group and seemingly unaware of the other group.
That evening I was watching the local 5:00 o'clock news. A news flash! A fast breaking news report from the reporter(s) on the scene! At that very intersection where I was three plus hours earlier, about 20 protesters had walked into the street and stopped rush hour traffic. Policemen were arresting protesters and in some instances literally carrying them off to jail.
Do you think those protesters would walk into a busy intersection in the middle of rush hour if reporters and cameramen weren't there? Do you think this was all staged for the benefit of the cameras and the evening news? Of course, it was. It was a media event.
What would happen to the protest camp along the road to President Bush's home if the media covered the protest the first day and then said "We gave this protest all the attention it deserves; now let's go cover some important news." How long would those 100+- protesters remain camped out on a lonely country road if it wasn't covered by the media? Talk about a media event! Talk about the media creating and giving life to an event. An event that isn't really news worthy! A group of 100 people out of our entire population is miniscule.
As I asked in an earlier post, would the media give the same devotion to the story if the same number of people were protesting the murder of innocent unborn babies in front of a Supreme Court Justice's home? I doubt it. Media created news. Media created personalities. As I've said before, you can look for a book and/or movie coming soon to your local bookstore or theater (or TV channel). Maybe even a run for political office. Oh, the power of media created news.
However, it jogged my memory about an incident I witnessed a couple of years ago. I was living in Tucson where protests seem to be rather common. They were protesting something "federal" but I can't remember what it was. Downtown Tucson has a federal office building on one corner of a major street. It houses the local IRS office among other agencies. Diagonally, across the street is the new federal court house.
Professionally, I am a tax consultant. I was walking to the IRS office when I saw this scene about 2:00p.m. one afternoon. About six adults were standing and sitting together (outdoor chairs) talking to each other. One was playing a guitar. Four or five yards away, a larger group of police officers were standing together talking to each other. A couple of officers were from the bike patrol and had their bikes with them. A camera crew was no where in sight. No reporters were visibly present. The only ones present other than me were the two groups mentioned talking in each group and seemingly unaware of the other group.
That evening I was watching the local 5:00 o'clock news. A news flash! A fast breaking news report from the reporter(s) on the scene! At that very intersection where I was three plus hours earlier, about 20 protesters had walked into the street and stopped rush hour traffic. Policemen were arresting protesters and in some instances literally carrying them off to jail.
Do you think those protesters would walk into a busy intersection in the middle of rush hour if reporters and cameramen weren't there? Do you think this was all staged for the benefit of the cameras and the evening news? Of course, it was. It was a media event.
What would happen to the protest camp along the road to President Bush's home if the media covered the protest the first day and then said "We gave this protest all the attention it deserves; now let's go cover some important news." How long would those 100+- protesters remain camped out on a lonely country road if it wasn't covered by the media? Talk about a media event! Talk about the media creating and giving life to an event. An event that isn't really news worthy! A group of 100 people out of our entire population is miniscule.
As I asked in an earlier post, would the media give the same devotion to the story if the same number of people were protesting the murder of innocent unborn babies in front of a Supreme Court Justice's home? I doubt it. Media created news. Media created personalities. As I've said before, you can look for a book and/or movie coming soon to your local bookstore or theater (or TV channel). Maybe even a run for political office. Oh, the power of media created news.
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 12:35 AM
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