I honestly have no clue how many people were marching in Moscow today and to what end, but it's sure interesting to read the reports of it and see the way the journalists are describing it.
The New York Times has protesters thronging frozen Moscow in anti-Putin protest, noting only in paragraph seven that apparently, the pro-Putin protests were four times the size of the anti-Putin protests--which to my mind suggests a different headline, but what do I know.
The Wall Street Journal suggests that anti-Putin protests were numerically so insignificant as to be worth mentioning only in the final paragraph.
According to the BBC, thousands join pro- and anti-Putin protests. The lede says: "Tens of thousands" but the figures subsequently morph--perhaps 120,000 pro-, perhaps 90,000 anti-; the reporter doesn't seem to have eyeballed both crowds personally to say whether they were even close to the same size, although apparently they took place only a few kilometers away from each other.
The Economist: Russians stage rival protests. Okay. Rival protests. That's a bit different from anti-Putin protests.
Voice of America? Dueling rallies. MSNBC: I get it, the journalists are really cold. Everyone seems to agree that it is damned cold in Moscow in the winter. I understand this has historically often been true.
The Telegraph's report doesn't even hint at a pro-Putin rally. Al Arabiya: Russians complain of pressure to attend pro-Putin rally. (This suggests that there was, indeed, a pro-Putin rally, which you wouldn't know from reading that piece in the Telegraph, and which seems to me kind of important, but what do I know.)
Russia Today, quoting the Russian police: 36 thousand were on Bolotnaya Square and around 135,000 on Poklonnaya Hill. The latter is the pro-Putin rally.
RIANOVOSTI: The pro-Putin rally lambasts the Orange Trash.
Bulgarian national radio, apparently, thinks the numbers at the protests were about equal.
I found all of this a bit confusing, so I asked Tony Halprin (of the Times of London) what was going on. Was it true that numerically, the pro-Putin rallies were actually vastly bigger than the anti-Putin ones? He replied, "in scale yes though as I said earlier there are serious questions about whether people came voluntarily to Putin rally."
He also said, "Doesn't follow that Putin would lose an honest election. But he's definitely lost the urban middle class."
Right. And we all know that the urban middle class is what the People are all about.
Especially in Russia.
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Comments :
May '11
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
Claire, you are obviously laboring under a huge misconception. You obviously believe that Reporters ought to well, report. Not just report though, but report what is actually going on on BOTH sides of a story. One might even call it the truth of the matter at hand. (As if anyone really wants to hear that.)
On another note, can you imagine what pandemonium our government would go through if 100,000 or 200,000 people turned out for a protest in Washington or New York or anywhere here?
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
No, I don't believe they ought to do it, because I don't believe it's humanly possible--especially because there's no "both" sides, usually, but about a million sides. Any given reporter can only be in one place at one time--and news events happen quickly, which is why they're called "news."
But I do think better editors would have looked at some of the copy coming in today and asked themselves, "Shouldn't the pro-Putin rally part be higher up in this, even if people were forced to go?"
Apr '11
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
I think reporters should try to follow up on the line of "people being forced to attend a pro Putin rally." That just smacks of the good old days of Communism. My parents have many stories of being "asked" to join the crowds that would be corralled to see Causescu give his 3+ hour lectures...My mom was actually there for the last one when the assembled crowed started to boo him and he fled.
Looks like Russia is back to being Russia...
Jul '11
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
Climbing up on Poklonnaya hill has a ring to it, perhaps Peter Gabriel could do it justice. Was it a cattle prod, their conscience, or a 2 liter Stolichnaya that motivated the larger crowd. Perhaps a real journalist would go ask and report facts rather than agenda.
Sep '11
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
If people in London and other Western cities demonstrate against the government, we don't usually see a pro-government demonstration as well. That suggests the significance of these Moscow demonstrations needs to be explained to Western readers. I want context. I rarely get it.
May '10
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
Claire what are the chances any of the reporters reporting on Russia actually speak Russian?
Mar '11
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
But I do think better editors would have looked at some of the copy coming in today and asked themselves, "Shouldn't the pro-Putin rally part be higher up in this, even if people were forced to go?" · 3 hours ago
Define "better editors". If defined by # of page hits then perhaps these are the better editors.
Re: How to Gauge the Level of Your Foreign Correspondent's Projection
Quite good, I think.