Counts at demonstrations--I need to vent

[coalition_unwilling]

I woke up this morning with something really bothering me. The counts of demonstrators in yesterday's protest march wildly diverge. The NYPD put the number of demonstrators at about 200,000. United for Peace and Justice pegged it at 400,000. DemocracyNow this morning said more than 500,000 protested.

Here in Los Angeles, local news was absolutely laughable: the local ABC affiliate reported that the numbers disappointed the march's organizers, implying it was under 100,000.

So, first of all, how does one determine the number of protesters at a given demonstration\march\rally?

Second, when the media is so wildly over or under-counting demonstrators, why?

Finally, is there any point to protesting coverage of the protests?

I would like to believe that more than 500,000 turned out yesterday but, in the face of so many wildly divergent claims, I guess I will never know for sure.

[JHB]

1. Judge for yourself:

Big NYC avenue, filled with people as far as the eye can see. That's a LOTTA people:

[coalition_unwilling]

3. Thank you, beautiful

[screembloodymurder]

6. My papers headline

"Thousands of Anti-Bush Protesters Fill NY".

[Ready4Change]

2. I share your frustrations.

Were I only watching TV I'd only think a few thousand showed up. I have seen NO TV footage of the many blocks full of marching protesters. I've seen plenty of photos of those blocks via independant image sources (such as those in JHB's post above.)

But I'm not surprised. Before the start of Gulf War 2, I attended a protest here in my area. Organizers estimated 250,000. I would have estimated 50,000-100,000. Local news said "thousands" and showed some face level footage that gave no idea of the scale of the protest. Again, had I only watched TV I might have thought about 1,000 (one thousand) showed. Since I went in person I KNOW the numbers were FAR higher, yet lower than organizers claimed.

Also regarding the protest I attended, news shows presented footage of loud angry protestors, whereas when I was there the VAST majority of protestors were very calm and well behaved.

I attended that protest to see if the coverage to follow was accurate. I got my answer.

[coalition_unwilling]

4. Our local NBC affiliate reported "tens of thousands" in teaser

Then in the story, they reported "Over 100,000". Of course, NBC is a subsidiary of General Electric, one of the largest U.S. defense contractors, so there may have been an element of "don't shit where you eat" going on in their reportage.

[Nite Owl]

5. There was a thread earlier

that someone heard the 400,000 count given on MSNBC. What ever it was it was a lot. And just how many protested in Boston last month? A few hundred maybe? You can bet if it were anything that could even look substantial it would have been news. Protestors there were largely ignored by the media because it would have been more of a joke that so few even showed up.

[prodigal_green]

7. How to estimate a crowd in NYC

approx 7,000 per block. IF the march had simply been a single group of people, by the time the marchers got to the end (Union square), there would have been, at minimum (44X7,000=308,000) Each Avenue is the equivalent of 2 blocks more or less--14th to 34th twice plus four. However, I would estimate that there was approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the march still waiting to step off when the first marchers hit Union square. There were easily 1/2 million. Unofficial police estimates (per Reuters I believe) also agree with the 500,0000 count. The NYPD does not do official counts, probably to avoid appearing politically biased.