Biologist Alexandra Morton attracted a crowd to downtown Victoria Saturday at the culmination of her walk from Sointula in support of wild salmon and against fish farms, but just how big depends on which news organization you turn to.
Here's how Times Colonist reporters Katie DeRosa and Judith Lavoie had it in a story that also ran in the Vancouver Sun: “Nearly 1,000 people crowded Government Street on Saturday at the end of a 500-kilometre walk to protest fish farms, which participants blame for killing B.C.’s wild salmon.”
The CBC previewed the event saying 300 people were walking and “thousands” were expected at the Legislature, while the Victoria News' Sharon Tiffin reported that “thousands gathered.”
Meanwhile, Brennan Clarke wrote for today's Globe and Mail that “In one of the largest environmental demonstrations the city has ever seen, close to 4,000 people turned out for the culmination of Ms. Morton’s 500-kilometre 'Get Out Migration' walk.”
Later in his story Clarke offered details that could explain why reporters differed on the number of participants by a factor of four: “The crowd of about 500 protest walkers swelled to well over 1,000 at Centennial Square before continuing to the legislature where an even larger crowd was waiting.”
A Tyee assessment of photos of the event found protesters are as difficult to count as Fraser River sockeye.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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max von smartt
2 years ago
media brownout
count on mainstream media to report between 10 and 25 % on size of left of centre protests
conrad black
G West
2 years ago
max
I was there - You (and Conrad) are about right. It was a BIG CROWD...
barney
2 years ago
The best math formula...
If it's an anti-government protest (unlike a benign festival or parade), take the government's/police's estimates and the protesters' estimates and draw out an average of the two, give or take a few percentage points on either side.
The media estimates tend to be consistently wrong on either side of the equation.
carfreecity
2 years ago
size
Victoria News say the police estimate was 4000 to 5000.
It was BIG!!
Vicky Husband said it was the biggest.
Having attended every environmental Rally since 1985, I know it was the biggest I can recall.
Grumpy
2 years ago
According to Global TV.................
4,000 people attended.
Morg
2 years ago
BC Media
the Province reporting on this story was brutal a major rally at the legislature and it ends up on page 28.The province and Sun are so right wing and are big supporters of Gordon Campbell so they bury negative Liberal stories all the time and highlight positive Liberal stories .Now Paul Godfrey from the National Post the biggest Global warming deniers around have bought the Sun and Province so this paper will swing even more to the right.Gordo will be happy.
freebear
2 years ago
3.5 billion watched the Winter Owelimpics
As noted, they are often wrong on both sides.
Stuart Hertzog
2 years ago
Free Enterprise media
The brief flowering of democratic media is over in AmeriCanada. For a while, we could believe that "our" Canadian media was open and unbiased. No longer -- welcome to Free Enterprise Media, an extensive, multi-media propaganda machine that effectively controls newspapers and broadcasting outlets in this country.
But don't fret it, fellow froggies! It's done to help you. It's necessary to control public opinion so that riots and mayhem do not break out as our righteous Masters and Mistresses slowly boil away all life on an entire planet.
Global warming? Phooey! Citizen democracy! What an outrageous idea! Welcome to the Corporate Era! It's going to be an absolute blast -- literally.