Boston Tea Party: The Response

I think this man said it best on his poster at the Boston Tea Party.

I must say that I am extremely disappointed and down about the response from the media about the Tea Parties. After the rush I felt while attending two Tea Parties in Boston, I rushed home to turn on the news to see how it was covered.

Crap! I believed would be the best word to describe the coverage. When I turned on the television the only network cable news station that covered it was Fox News. MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, and CNNHN all ignored these Tea Parties after they were over. The next day there were just a few words spit out about how bad and crazy they were. The local news stations did no better. All of them only put up a one or two minute blurb. Fox25 went as far as having their reporter find the fringe people who attended and catch them off guard with false statements. I will say however, that while the Keller Instinct was critical of it he did at least present it better than any other station.

Most of us have seen the youtube video of the CNN reporter harassing a father and talking over him while he tries to make a point. This was about on par for the coverage of these events. The media marginalized the whole movement when the did cover it. They always tried to frame the people who attended as nutjob right-wing extremists who blindly follow Fox News and the GOP. Furthermore, every mention (even in print) of the Tea Parties was either followed by or preceded by the mention of the GOP, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc.; trying to tie this movement to the right.

Obviously, the media did not "listen to the people" and missed the point entirely! This was not a GOP thing or a Fox News thing. While Fox News did promote this, they were fairly late in jumping in. The people were not all right-wing or conservative. Most of the people were moderates and did include liberals. The point was not anti-Obama it was anti-big government and outrageous spending/taxation.

Overall, two scary points have emerged from this coverage. First, the media no longer reports they try to actively put down those with dissenting opinions. Second, the media can flat out just lie and make up its story. Scary.