Media coverage overshadows demonstrators’ goals

By Michael Kozart

On Monday evening I was one of thousands of peaceful
demonstrators assembled outside Staples Center to express political
views all but banished from the platforms of the two-party system.
We chanted for universal health care, for the abolishment of the
death penalty and for an end to the racist bias with which it has
been implemented. We also spoke out for the rights of international
workers who have been systematically exploited by leading U.S.
manufacturers, and for the environment. We challenged the DNC to
hear our voices. Yet, when it came to the media, the issues were
nowhere to be found. On the evening news we were treated to video
clips and sound bytes of protesters clashing with police. We saw
one scene after another of tear gas and rubber bullets being pumped
into crowds of running people. Of the little commentary offered by
the networks, we heard from the police, bragging about their
“strategic” and “measured” response to a
“bellicose” mob, and we heard from demonstrators,
complaining about the excessive and indiscriminate use of force. We
did not hear about the issues. The demonstration was reduced to a
mindless confrontation of people versus police. In a manner echoing
the Democrats’ (and Republicans’) dismissal of the
issues that matter for the world, the media has effectively
silenced the essence of the DNC demonstrations. Still, this is a
larger conspiracy of silence: the very willingness of the police to
order a crowd of 15,000 to disperse because of the few hoodlums who
ignorantly hurled rocks, shows how little tolerance our civil
government has for the lawful expression of political dissent. I
can imagine far more imaginative ways by which the police could
have responded to the violence of the few in order to enable the
demonstration of the many to proceed. I am bored by what we see on
the TV, and I am resentful of the implication that the DNC
demonstrations are mere occasions for unruly anarchists to vent
their rage. But why should we be surprised? There is a corporate
machine behind the news, and behind the convention itself. It is
all about the money, and money, as we know, is made from action
films.