Tea Party Rally Attracts “Dozens”

Does A Tea Party Rally Attracting “Dozens” Qualify As News?

April 01, 2011 10:19 am ET by Eric Boehlert

Or put another way, is there any limit to how small or poorly attended a Tea Party rally can be before the press finally stops showering the right-wing movement with coverage? Based on the avalanche of reporting that yesterday's minuscule Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C., generated, the answer appears to be, no.

Just how sparse was the Tea Party crowd? A Bloomberg dispatch tactfully noted the rally attracted "dozens" of supporters.

Dozens!

I realize the fact that many high-profile members of Congress were scheduled speak at the Thursday rally meant it was going to be covered regardless, that there was an automatic news hook in place regardless of the Tea Party turnout.

But still, it’s long past time that reporters and pundits started telling the truth about the incredibly shrinking Tea Party movement in America. And it’s time members of the press corps asked themselves why they continue to cover Tea Party events that draw “dozens.” (I guarantee you that if Media Matters promoted a rally in the nation’s capital and invited members of Congress to speak, there would be a hell of a lot more than “dozens” of supporters. I can also guarantee you most news organizations would not cover the event.)

Remember, this is supposed to be a grassroots movement, which means one of the newsworthy angles is that so many Americans are supposedly getting involved in the Tea Party initiative. But if the party calls for a major Washington, D.C., rally and promises to have members of Congress addressing the crowd, but only “dozens” show up? That in and of itself is news. (i.e. What's become of the Tea Party?)

Of course, the wheels actually came off the Tea Party's grassroots movement a long time ago. Flashback: Activists predicted 3-4,000 Tea Party faithful would flock to Philadelphia last summer to hear Andrew Breitbart address the masses. Except only one-tenth of that bothered to show up.

How many disappointing rallies with crowds numbering in the low hundreds does the Tea Party have to suffer through before the press acknowledges there’s no there there?

In terms of yesterday's coverage, I thought The Atlantic and Slate got it about right with their headlines, "Some, But Not Many, Tea Partiers Rally on Capitol Hill" and "The Tea Party Comes to D.C., in Small Numbers, On Message," respectively. And other news outlets, such as CBSNews.com, at least made it plain in their articles that the rally turnout was surprisingly (shockingly?) small.

Others, though, camouflaged that fact. The Los Angeles Times, for instance, politely made no references to miniature Tea Party crowd size in its report. And of course, neither did Fox News. Its online dispatch mentioned the "energized" and "boisterous" crowd. Missing from the report? The fact that the rally attracted dozens of supporters.

Dozens.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201104010008