Posted on Friday, 5th September 2008 by Patrick Dorwin
In its coverage of John McCain and Sarah Palin in Cedarburg Wi. today, the Associated Press reported:
More than a thousand people jammed the streets to see McCain and the Alaska governor, his suprise choice for the vice presidential nomination who proved to be the hit of the convention.
(The typo is theirs, not mine.)
While this is technically true, it is far from telling the whole story… There were more than 1,000 people, there were actually more than 12,000 people allowed inside the gates, and police estimate that there were approximately three times that number outside of the gate. The three bus loads of reporters were greeted by some 30,000 happy Wisconsin Conservatives making it clear what they thought of them.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune actually reported that the crowd was “hundreds” then pointed out that police expected 5,000 to 8,000… This one I believe we can call a lie. Update: This story has been sanitized, and unfortunately, Google doesn’t seem to have a cached copy, my bad for not taking a screen shot. See update below for more details.
UPDATE: Now the Minneapolis Star Tribune is running this in an AP story:
h/t: Boots & Sabers
Posted in Home | Comments (23)
23 Responses to “Well, technically, they didn’t lie”
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September 5th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Yeah, it’s like the old trick where they say “Roe vs Wade legalized abortion for the first three months of pregnancy.” Well, yeah. And for the other six months as well. A pretty salient point to omit.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
TMJ4’s Melissa McCrady:
“They expected 10,000, they actually got 20-30,000, based on state trooper estimates.”
She repeats the figure twice under questioning.
4 1/2 hours later, WTMJ stands by its “1,000 people” figure.
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/27928609.html
Nope, no liberal bias here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cu120-XQa4
September 5th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Local media, that should know better (since they had reporters there), is now downsizing the numbers drastically, wow… Can’t let anyone think that McCain / Palin is actually popular, huh?
September 5th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
More disappointment from the local media, the local TV stations all stick to the 1,000 number, even WTMJ Radio’s website sticks with that number, but even a WTMJ TV reporter confirmed that State Patrol set the number at between 20,000 and 30,000, and other reports clearly state that there was 12,000 inside the gates of the event and many more were outside of the official controlled area.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I don’t think it’s disappointment anymore from the biased media, but instead is more of a standard expectation. I think the massive drop of readership in newspapers, and the dwindling network news ratings are a clear indication of that expectation.
Fortunately since most folks get their news off the internet, most folks are not going to be hoodwinked by activist reporters. The days of the traditional news media controlling information and people’s perceptions are over.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Even FoxNews is using the bogus AP numbers.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I’d stick with the Channel 4 infobabe (yes, she’s easy on the eyes). She was there. Why the Drive Bys are deliberately using a figure 1/10th of the estimate is anyone’s guess … can you say, Media Bias?
September 6th, 2008 at 5:30 am
We already proved the Journal has an agenda with our blog post on their Pothole Repair Problem = Racism in Milwaukee story and their refusal to accurately report the Common Council Public Works Committee meeting in which Alderman Bob Bauman can be observed on the City channel tape of the meeting saying that the Watchdog Journal’s reporting was “borderline irresponsibile”. That the rest of the msm media is biased against conservatives should come as no surprise to anyone. Thank God for talk radio and FOX News where we can always get the whole story.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:55 am
At the same time, there was an Obama rally in Mequon that barely filled a room. Strangely enough I couldn’t find a story to link to. Hummmm!!!!
September 6th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Hey Scott, here’s a screencap of the J/S NewsWatch posting from yesterday afternoon about the Obama rally in Mequon (click on the image for full resolution)
While J/S reporter Tom Kertscher didn’t feel that mentioning the number of persons attending the rally was newsworthy, he did feel the need to quote someone claiming to be a “lifelong Republican” allegedly offering their support for Obama at the rally.
The J/S does disclose the number in attendance at the rally in a completely separate story, while quoting Gwen Moore at said rally:
“At a gathering of more than 100 people at Barack Obama’s campaign office in Mequon, U.S. Rep Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, ridiculed McCain’s selection of Palin by saying, “I’m taking my moose hunting lessons pretty soon.”
(meepos: THIS ^^ is how you cite stories from other sources and properly attribute quotations in your posts. If you are baffled by this beyond reason, go take an HTML class.)
September 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Wow, that’s a witty retort Ms. Moore. Where did Sen. Biden plagarize it from?
September 6th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Why the Drive Bys are deliberately using a figure 1/10th of the estimate is anyone’s guess
Same reason they use 10x the actual numbers at illegal-alien marches and “anti-war” rallies?
(After Obama’s gun grab, what’s Moore going to use to kill moose? Sharp looks?)
September 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Heather, Gwen Moore’s kid and The Messiah are real tight. Something tells me he’d make an exception if she really needed some firepower.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Gwen Moose errrr Moore is a couple of watts shy of a 40 watt bulb.
Anyone here disagree?
September 6th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
[...] paper reported the crowd to be “hundreds.” But you can’t find that page, [...]
September 6th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
gus, only that you give her 10 x more wattage than she’s is “entitled” to.
September 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Update: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has sanitized their site that reported the crowd numbers at “hundreds.”
This story is starting to take off in the Blogosphere (TheAnchoress, Ace of Spades, and more). The Politico was closer by calling it 10,000.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Is that the “Supreme Solar Allah” in that picture with Obama?
September 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Micky gets a gold star *
September 6th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I see that the Journal Sentinel was a bit more truthful with the numbers than everyone running blindly with the AP’s bogus numbers. The JS reports:
September 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
UPDATE: Now the Minneapolis Star Tribune is running this in an AP story:
September 7th, 2008 at 1:30 am
That picture is creeping me out so much that I can’t sleep. It’s not even close to Halloween!!!
September 7th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Yeah, but deep down it’s getting you hot. I can tell.