Democracy Now!‘s coverage (4/12/16) of the Democracy Spring protests against money in politics.
More than 400 people were arrested in a non-violent sit-in on Capitol Hill April 11, many having marched 150 miles from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The protest, called Democracy Spring, is about ending the influence of big money in politics and ensuring free, fair elections through things like restoring the Voting Rights Act. The next day, another 85 mostly elderly people were arrested, many chanting, “Democracy is not for sale, [we’re] not too old to go to jail.”
Seems like a story. And wait, yes, there it was in the Washington Post—in the Metro section, page B3…in the brief items…after the one about the 10-year-old boy hit by a car riding his bike, after the one about the man who got two years for tax evasion….
Yes, there: 150 or so words on the arrests, with the Post saying the organizing group seeks to prevent “what it called ‘voter suppression.'”
As of April 14, the New York Times had yet to report in print on the demonstrations and mass arrests in the nation’s capital. Research by The Intercept (4/12/16) noted that cable news, with all that time to fill, also took a pass. As of April 12, CNN had done nothing, MSNBC mentioned the protests for approximately 12 seconds, while Fox News gave them about 17 seconds. Later CNN (4/12/16) put a short item on its website.
On Democracy Now! (4/12/16), organizer Kai Newkirk said the protests posed a challenge for anyone running for office: “Are you going to stand on the side of democracy and on the side of the people, or on the side of big money and corruption?”
One has to wonder why Beltway reporters, self-proclaimed political junkies, have such a profound lack of interest in following that line of inquiry.
Janine Jackson is the program director of FAIR and the producer and host of CounterSpin.
It’s a society in decay – let’s hope the human mass of anti-culture collapses quick enough so that the planet may repair its damage and other life may survive. Happy Earth Day.
Media sometimes leads but more often follows the crowd. Most Americans are appalled by big money in politics but have yet to vote for those proclaiming get money out of politics. So we have the same old, same old in Washington where politicians seem to be more interested in reelection than governing the Nation. When politicians not enamored of their big money donors start winning then the media will cover the protestors in greater detail. It will happen!
My political satire, entitled “Washington Money Talk”, is on YouTube. Here is the link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etPwzJvhxyI
I wouldn’t be too down on people not being interested in this. I consider it one of the main draws to Bernie and look how many people turn up at his rallies. And look how many and how much people have donated to Bernie (massively more than Hillary’s received from industry and the rich).
There is a War on Activists. For example, environmental justice advocates are referred to as eco-terrorists and are tried under the law as terrorists, despite having never harmed a single person. Activists are now considered low level terrorist threats. Green is the New Red by Will Potter is a good read on this.
We are witnessing an assault on our freedoms. Obama signed propaganda into law in 2012. The media has a black out on many topics. The gov’t is hardly transparent anymore. We are in a police state – they are in our middle schools, high schools, colleges, hospitals, etc. etc. and Infragard now serve as Stasi (you can check the FBI paid informants – 15,000 and growing). COINTELPRO has been back since the ’80s (see Ted Gunderson, former FBI agent; BLM, Occupy Wall St; Nat’l Lawyers Guild, etc.)
So, we have a a war on activists, a war on journalists, a war on whistle blowers. A police state. Half our taxes go to military spending. Between the military and corporations, the public and anyone representing its interests (ie, “dissenters”) has limited power and stature.
I hope for my sake (COINTELPRO target) and anyone targeted or caught in the grips of this war and for the sake of our future generations, we reclaim our freedoms and get our country back.
Get big money out of politics? Oh! The irony here! You mean like the group that funded this theatrical “protest”? This was a George Soros funded event and anyone with brains knew enough to ignore it. Georgy boy is just mad because it didn’t get the media attention he thought he was purchasing.
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