When abortion rights supporters showed up at the Texas state capitol to protest, the AP considers it worthy of a 800-plus word feature. The headline on Monday was “Crowd Of Thousands Packs Texas Capitol To Protest Abortion Bill.”
It was the largest demonstration at the Capitol in recent memory, with the Department of Public Safety pegging the crowd size at about 3,000 by mid-morning and The Associated Press later estimating it had grown to at least 5,000 participants at its peak. Scattered among the sea of orange were clusters of blue-clad counter-demonstrators who prayed, clutched crosses, sang and watched the debate from the Senate gallery, but they were far outnumbered by opponents of the legislation.
The AP makes a point of noting the religious activity of the counter-demonstrators (prayed, clutched crosses, sang hymns, the usual stuff), but why do they not mention the religious activity of the demonstrators? For example, what about those who were chanting, “Hail Satan”?
Texas blogger Adam Cahm, who recorded the video, says, “For the record: They've been doing this all day, this is just the first time we caught it on video.” So if the protestors were chanting “Hail Satan” all day yesterday, why have we not seen reports about today by mainstream outlets?
The Washington Times appears to be the only newspaper to report on these chants. Meanwhile, CNN producer Josh Rubin mentioned the chants on Twitter (“Crowd of anti abortion activists giving speeches while a group of people chant hail Satan in the background.”) but, so far, nothing on CNN, in terms of actual coverage.
No doubt the number of Satan-hailers is small compared to the number of non-Satan invoking demonstrators. But if it’s worth noting when pro-lifers “clutch crosses” why is not newsworthy when abortion rights supporters invoke the Prince of Darkness?
Why is no one reporting on the chants? Is some lower power compelling reporters to be silent? (Could it be . . . Satan?) Or should we just chalk it up to the ongoing, ever-persistent media bias in mainstream news coverage of abortion?
(Note: If you see other outlets mention the chants, please let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to this post.)