CNN Protested for Warmongering Stance

Author: Independent Media Center

Topic: Articles

Atlanta - On Sunday, November 24, about 100 people, led by the "Drop Bass not Bombs Anti-War Drum Corp and Flagettes," marched on CNN Center to protest corporate media bias [ 1 ] regarding coverage of war. The march was organized by the Georgia State University 4910 collective. Citing a list of demands, they called upon CNN to "de-emphasize up-to-the minute coverage which perpetrates a 'culture of fear'" and provide adequate and accurate coverage of anti-war campaigns happening across the country.

Beginning at Woodruff Park, the march, under motorcycle police escort, wound through downtown Atlanta, receiving honks and waves of support from passing pedestrians and autos. The marchers were prevented from stopping to demonstrate at the offices of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at this point, thus continuing to the CNN offices.

The march rallied with chants of "CNN Half the Story All the Time," with drummers keeping up a thunderous pulse. They were confronted by a line of private security guards and watched by curious tourists and CNN employees. The rally included chants, speeches, poems, and the demands of the 4910 Collective.

These demands included "De-emphasize up-to-the minute coverage which perpetrates a "culture of fear; Adequate and accurate coverage of anti-war campaigns; Assign full-time reporters to cover and report on all anti-war protests around the nation; Because we cannot have democracy without a free press, advertisers should not dictate content; and, Encourage debates and airtime from all major political parties so to provide a variety of perspectives."

CNN initially featured the protest on its website, but later removed the story. The liberal buzzflash.com website initially featured a link to the Google cache, but the cache was later removed from Google, presumably due to CNN's request. The cached story, however, has been mirrored.

These protests came more than a year after earlier protests [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ] outside the news conglomerate's headquarters in Atlanta. On November 11, 2001, over 100 people marched from Woodruff Park to the CNN building to call attention to the inaccuracies of the corporate owned media. Three persons were arrested at the protest, and one IMC reporter was later harrassed by police while following up the arrests elsewhere in the city. Charges against two of the three arrested were later dropped.