The MSM reports the Beck Rally numbers

[edhopper]

even though it's an out and out LIE and the real number of around 80,000 is confirmed by the National Park Service.
I keep hear "The organizers claim 500,000". And if the organizers "claimed that Big foot spoke would they report that as a fact.
This isn't an opinion or debatable. There is an actual real number of attendees that the MSM refuses to simply report.
If they can't get this right we are doomed this election to hear whatever the right wing spin machine wants to say.

[spanone]

1. m$nbc re beck rally...'should democrats be worried?'

fuck m$nbc

[Junkdrawer]

2. It is no longer necessary to convince people to vote one way or another....

It is now only necessary to convince you that your neighbors were persuaded to vote one way or another.

ES&S handles the rest.

[MissMillie]

3. I'm sure the organizers have inflated the numbers.... however

I heard on NPR that the National Park Service has gotten out of the business of confirming numbers for this sort of thing.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Absolutely NO number has been "confirmed by the National Park Service"

since the National Park Service no longer estimates numbers, period. If you are going to debate these people, don't get smacked down on simple mistakes of fact.

[FBaggins]

5. There is no "real number"

These games have been played for many years.

[MattyGroves]

6. The National Park Service confirmed nothing

and hasn't done crowd counts since they caught hell for saying under a million people attended the Million Man March.

The "official" figure is nothing more than one company's estimate based on a photograph taken at what they presumed to be "peak attendance".

Unfortunately, to avoid charges of bias (since the photo was commissioned by CBS) I think the media is going to go by whatever organizers say it was although Bachman's estimate of a million was obviously pulled out of her tuckus.

[droidamus2]

7. The 80000 number was from ...

CBS had a company do the estimate with techniques using overhead photos. There was an over/under of 9000. One article I read said one organizer said >500000 and when they asked one of the loons (Micelle Bachman) she said 'Oh yeah there is definitely over a million' or something like that. The numbers the organizers give are based on, well nothing actually, on the effect they want them to have on people. If Beck said he expected 300000 attendees then he will say there were at least 300000 even if the only people that showed up were 2 homeless people and a guy walking his dog.

[melm00se]

8. is it a lie?

the MSM is reporting what the organizers are saying. so the MSM is reporting a fact. What they should also do is report the range from multiple sources but no matter what they report it will piss someone off.

and yes, the National Parks Service got out of the crowd estimation business after the Million Man March and the controversy (and accusations of...you guessed it...racism) over the NPS' estimates.

[atreides1]

9. Not a fact

A fact is when you know for sure. What the MSM is reporting can be considered second hand information, or even hearsay.

We know that there were a lot of people there, but we don't know for sure what the exact numbers were.

Besides, didn't Keith Olberman say that Billo the Clown would quit his show if 100,000 did show up?:D

[edhopper]

11. We know for sure that there were not

500,000. Should they report simply that "some people believe Obama is a Muslim" and leave it at that.
Should they report that "some people say that the Bush tax cuts did not increase the deficit" and leave it at that.
Should they report that "some people know Saddam had WMDs, and stop there.
The 500,000 number is a lie.

[melm00se]

12. yes, the media is reporting a fact

the fact is that: "The organizers claim 500,000"

I can claim that the sky is green and it you reported that melm00se "claimed that the sky is green" you would be factually correct (it is what I claimed) that would not address whether my claim is true or not.

[edhopper]

10. my bad

it was CBS and not the NPS. I conflated two articles.
My point still stands. Since CBS backs up there tally with arial photos and that there was no way it was anywhere near 500,000, reporting that number as a fact. And saying "organizers say" is just a cop out since most listeners will think that is a real number.
Saying "organizers erroneously say" is closer to the truth.
But we will still be left with the legacy that Beck attracted half a million people.
This is so Orwellian!