Bias on CNN? Never!

[Update- 48 hours after posting this, CNN re-edited the article. Interesting. –JST]

OK, so I’m reading middle-of-the-night CNN, and I see this article.

Title: GOP convention protest covers miles of New York
Police arrest 200; Bloomberg: Marchers ‘behaved responsibly’

N.B. Put a small number up front — the eye is attracted to the number 200. Perhaps fast scanners think it means only 200 protesters attended the event. It’s a small crowd. Internet people tend to look at figures more often than text.

NEW YORK (CNN) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators carrying signs and chanting “No More Bush” marched Sunday past Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican National Convention, which opens Monday.
Write out the text “Tens of thousands” so it doesn’t stand out against 200. Especially since 200 is in a bigger font.

Organizers had predicted as many as 250,000 demonstrators would take part.
Aha! They only predicted 250,000 demonstrators. So they were wrong, it was only tens of thousands of people.

Then, much much farther down, in paragraph 6:

March organizers said they estimated the crowd size at more than 400,000.
N.B. This is below the page scroll point even on 1200×1048, meaning only true diehards will actually ever get to that part of the article and not just skim the text. Never mind that it says the size is 1.6 times the size that they originally predicted, and 40 times larger than a single “ten(s) of thousands.”

Police did not give a crowd estimate.
The gall to put this right after the 400,000 figure, as if to discredit the organizer’s boastful claim. Even assuming an inaccuracy of 50%, it’d still be more than the original 250,000 demonstrators predicted. You can’t fake 200,000 people in attendance. You just can’t. It takes up HUGE amounts of real estate. A single aerial photograph would show the veracity of this statistic, and given CNN’s resources, should have been included in the article. (Or are you going to tell me that a shot from the top of a tall building would violate Homeland Security?)

Yet no aerial photograph of the size is given in the CNN gallery. Instead, they show fake coffins (intended to ire those who support the war), Rev. Jesse Jackson (perennial bash-boy), distorted photos of Pres. Bush (see, them liberals always lie!), someone in a devil outfit (look, them Liberals don’t fear Bod like we do, they worship Satan!), police (look, them Liberals don’t even respect the law, we gotta get our Boys out there to help keep things in order!), a handcuffed protester (see! Told ya!), and some sketchy photos of people in weird bright costumes.

Just yer average day in the modern American media.

An update

Hello everyone,

I haven’t had much to say publicly for a while.

I still exist; should you wish to talk to me, email will be best. As a rule I am very reactive when it comes to mail, meaning I don’t tend to start conversations. Instead, I expect you start them with me. Drop me a line, and I’ll answer when I’m able.

My sincere apologies to anyone who feels put off by this; I mean no harm or disrespect. As I rethink how I want to use my blog, I also rethink how I live my life in general. What I choose for now is what makes me happiest. The rest of you will just have to deal. :)