March for Life - What Media Bias?

While I hope to post my thoughts and pictures of the 2009 March for Life soon, I thought I'd note something which always bugs me about the media coverage of the March. It never ceases to amaze me which photos some media outlets use to provide their readers a visual feel for the March for Life. Case in point: The LA Times.

The top of the LA Times story on the March for Life doesn't show a picture of the hundreds of thousands of prolifers who crammed on buses and came from all across America to protest abortion and affirm life but instead the photo a close-up shot of two pro-choicers who stood in front of the Supreme Court building with pro-choice signs.



In the past I've always been amazed at how so many pictures of pro-choicers at the March wind up in media publications since the presence of pro-choicers at the March is exceptionally minimal. In fact, you really have to search them out to find them. Which is something I did this year.

By my count, there were a whopping 10 pro-choicers standing in front of the Supreme Court this year. 10! The majority of them (8 by my count) were standing together. Of the eight standing together, there were 3 ladies holding a "My body, my choice" sign who didn't stay long, there were the two individuals in the LA Times photo, two white women who also had "Keep Abortion Legal" NOW signs, and an older white male with a hat that said, "Liberal." In addition to those eight individuals, there was a rather eccentric white male with a variety of homemade signs, one of which read something along the lines of "Pro-choice because of genetic defects and abnormalities" and another woman on the other side of the crowd with a "Keep Abortion Legal" sign.

So the point of the story is this - if you want your picture plastered across newspapers around the country - all you have to do is show up to the March for Life with a pro-choice sign. The photo editor will be too busy ignoring the photos of hundreds of thousands of prolifers to miss you.