Pro-Life Groups Demand Mainstream Media Finally Bother to Cover the March for Life

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 20, 2016   |   4:10PM   |   Washington, DC

A coalition of pro-life groups is demanding that the mainstream media finally bother to cover the March for Life.

A new coalition called The Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues launched its #CoverTheMarch campaign today demanding the media cover this year’s March for Life and cover it fairly. The annual event held in Washington, D.C. draws hundreds of thousands of peaceful participants from all over the country. This year’s March for Life marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand.

The March for Life is a special event that is unique in modern-day American politics. There is no other consistent annual event on any political issue where more than half a million people gather in the nation’s capital to express their views. That’s because the travesty of the denial of human rights of 57 million unborn children is so monumentally important to so many Americans – and that deserves appropriate news coverage.

However, the mainstream media’s coverage of the March has been horrific over the years.

As of 2013, over the past 10 years, 91 percent of ABC, NBC, and CBS anchor reports on the March for Life and Roe v. Wade failed to mention the word, “life.”In 22 reports, “life” was used just twice.  The first came from NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell. O’Donnell said in a Jan. 22, 2003, “Today” segment when she introduced a “pro-life group.” The other came from CBS’ Russ Mitchell in a Jan. 22, 2007, “Early Show” report when he described a “march for life” marking the 34th Roe v. Wade anniversary.

The other 20 reports employed a variety of alternate descriptions for the March for Life and pro-life activists.

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The coverage hasn’t improved since then. ABC and NBC gave just 46 seconds of air time to the many thousands who braved freezing temperatures to join the 2014 March for Life in Washington. CBS didn’t even mention it. In fact, the birth of a panda received six times more coverage than the March. 

But the coalition of pro-life groups, which induces LifeNews.com, is asking the media to change its ways.

“The Alliance, a coalition of 17 pro-life organizations and two members of Congress along with the Media Research Center, formed in response to the consistently poor coverage media outlets have given to important, newsworthy life issues,” the group said.

“Last year’s censorship of the March for Life (which received only 15 seconds of coverage from the networks) revealed the media’s contempt for those who don’t share their left-wing social agenda. Add to this the paltry and irresponsible network reporting this past summer regarding the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos of Planned Parenthood, and the impetus for the creation of the Alliance is clear. Pro-life Americans will no longer allow the media to ignore issues that impact the most vulnerable in our society: pre-born babies,” it added.

To hold the media accountable on life issues, Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues encourages citizens to contact the network representatives listed below to demand coverage of the march and pro-life issues. Tell @ABC, @CBSNews and @NBCNews to #CovertheMarch on Twitter.

Mr. Steve Burke

CALL NOW:
(877) 784-9793

President, NBC Universal
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Mr. David Rhodes

CALL NOW:
(877) 734-8032

President, CBS News
524 W. 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Mr. Ben Sherwood

CALL NOW:
(877) 660-5301

President, Disney-ABC Television Group
47 West 66th Street
New York, NY 10023

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