Yesterday I found out about protest against the media's coverage of abortion. It's called March On The Media and the band of protesters will go to ABC News studios in Washington, D.C. to demand better news coverage. Was it a commenter here who suggested that the massive throngs of annual pro-life marchers should re-route through the Washington Post newsroom if they wanted to get noticed? Not a bad idea, actually.
Lila Rose, the human rights activist and undercover sting journalist who heads LiveAction, explained a bit of her rationale for hosting the march on Twitter yesterday. I put the tweets in Storify.
[View the story "March On Media" on Storify]
As you see, one of the examples she gave was how abortion rights hero Wendy Davis came to Washington, D.C., this week, was feted (again) by the media and said something grossly untrue about Kermit Gosnell. The media didn't even mention it, much less cover it in any substantial way. Mainstream media reporters continued their odd approach of not asking any or many questions about abortion, much less a tough one, leaving it to John McCormack of The Weekly Standard to ask an abortion-related question. She revealed she is at the extreme end on abortion rights, supporting no limits on the right to end the life of any child in the womb. That wasn't news. She also flubbed information related to the very bill she filibustered. It was not deemed news.
It gets tiring, though, to point out the horrible coverage of this topic. Media analysts have been soberly pointing out the problems for decades. Anti-abortion activists have been shouting about it for years.
And nothing changes.
So let's brainstorm ideas. The situation is whatever it is. What can be done to improve it? While the general lay of the land is dismal, obviously, some reporters have been able to cover this hot-button topic better than others. Do you have tips for reporters and editors? Please share them. Imagine you're sitting down with a reporter or editor. What would you ask of them? What would you encourage them to do?
Related, what should news consumers do about this situation? The band of protesters will protest today. But what should other news consumers who care about good coverage do? What can they say or do to be heard?