News: It's Real! (11/13/20)


The upcoming "Million MAGA March"... What are people saying?

https://dcist.com/story/20/11/11/maga-rally-trump-dc-election-counterprotest/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=DCIST_DAILY_11_11_20&utm_content=DCist+Daily+11/11

This is a fun one. It's a classic exercise in loaded language.

For background, there is a pro-Trump rally, The Million MAGA March (not a protest or demonstration?), taking place in DC this Saturday 11/14 in protest of alleged widespread voter fraud and election misconduct.

Let's stick to the first few paragraphs and some of the verbiage used there:


"pro-Trump and white nationalist"

  • Implied association

"promoting a rally...online promotion and social media chatter"

  • Unique verbiage from the left-wing "organize"

  • Evokes images of people behind computer screens and that the movement is fake or blindly radicalized

"claims/claiming [...stolen election]" (baseless, falsely, unproven)

  • Stronger language and increased implied falsehood than something like "allegations of/alleging [fraud]" or "with suspicions/suspecting [fraud]

"protests associated with white nationalists have tended to have a limp turnout in the city, dwarfed in size by counter protests"

  • Suggesting that a wider republican and bipartisan movement for election transparency is a subset of groups assembled at specifically far-right rallies in the past

"experts on extremism"

  • Implied that the #StopTheSteal movement and planned rallies are extremist in nature


Other than the intro and the intended bias, the article is good coverage of what's going on.

I'll say, it's interesting to point out that for the #StopTheSteal rallies, multiple groups have submitted and gotten approved their "First Amendment Activity" permits, as the Metro PD puts it. There's nothing cited, not to say that this isn't the case, regarding permits for any counter-protest gatherings, which the article suggests may bring more people than the original rally itself.

I'd recommend skimming through other coverage for the upcoming event. Going through specific news outlets and the first page and change of broader search results, it looks like much of the M5M is refusing to advertise the event. I'm coming up with blanks for TV outlets NBC, ABC, and CNN, outside maybe some local affiliates with relevant street closures and traffic updates. Maybe half of the coverage is about Airbnb cancelling reservations in DC for alleged Proud Boys planning to attend. And of course, Facebook is getting press for shutting down group and event pages associated.

A few such articles: