April 2005

Some thoughts from a road trip to Fayetteville, North Carolina

The vast unwashed left gathered in all their glory in Rowan Park to have a group whine and to salve their consciences. Their main message was the cop out of supporting the troops but not the war and giving support and comfort to the military families by loudly and repeatedly calling for the troops to leave Iraq now. The estimates vary widely but 2000 anti war types seems about right. They clearly felt the sting of being seen as antipatriots and were attempting to sweep the concept under the rug..

To counter this effort, a force of 200 or so representing Free Republic, Rolling Thunder, Protest Warriors and Vietnam Veterens gathered on the high ground over looking the park. The area was cordoned off by a very solid line of blue, the police of Fayetteville and other nearby localities brought in for the day. The police faced toward the lefties, not fearing any problems from behind. The solid stalwarts of the right had their backs.

The story of the day is not about events or encounters between the three groups, but of the press. The area wal literally crawling with various reporters and their associates with cameras, both TV and still. They came from allover. The central North Carolina papers were represented as was the Washington Post.. The university papers all had someone there. There were reporters from various Fort Bragg publications and there were many many TV crews. The TV types were frol nearby North Carolina Stations, at least 2 public radio stations and billing themselves as NPR. There was a British TV crew, a Germann crew and an Australian crew. There were two young women, one from California and one from New York who claimed to be filming a documentary.

When we discuss media bias, we generally speak of political bias..... left or right leaning. The press in Fayetteville or at leaset the reporters making many of the reports I read or saw, did a pretty good job of reporting the facts accurately. A la Fox News, the reports seemed fair and balanced. If there was a bias, it was for the home folks or for North Carolina. They took the sides of locals who had family directly involved in the war and of locals who came to make their thoughts known. Those from afar were not given the same weight of words as those from home.

There was another very obvious and pervasive bias. Gender bias. Virtually all the reporters and many of the various crew were women. The absence of men was very noticeable. I almost say young women because they seemed predominate, but there were a sprinkling of more seasoned in the mix. The general statement can be made that the working press is female.

I was seduced by the AP info babe. She asked me for an interview and when I learned she was AP, I began to castigate her for being associated with the premier antiwar voice in the press. I said the AP was pretty much an arm of the DNC and anything she wrote would bear the bias. While taken aback she neverthe less asked me if I had read her pre-rally piece thought to be a fair treatment of both sides. When she described the piece, I admitted it was pretty good and not the typical AP antiwar tone that prevades most of their work. Anyway, we talked quite a while. She was interested in Free Republic and our various reasons for being there. She was interested in my sign that declared there were American Hatriots on parade. She assured me that she would not do a hatchet job and that her piece would be put on the wire and not edited by AP editors with an adgenda.

She hunted me up three more times to ascertain with certainty who I was and where I was from and to get my eyewittness view of an altercation that occurred. Lest I think I'm special, she interviewed many others. She did a good honest day's work, working both sides of the street.

Her work product for the day was modest, even bland. She reported a few quotes and generalities but did not report any thing to give the gritty flavor of the day. Her article in the Raleigh News and observer is HERE