After years of looking the other way, the mainstream media may finally be in the early stages of perceiving the newsworthiness of the Pro-Life movement. Unfortunately, that cannot yet be said of the major news networks’ failure to cover the March for Life, which once again this year proved that “egregious bias” still dictates their programming. However, smaller outlets are – perhaps grudgingly – owning to the fact that the Pro-Life movement is no small blip on the cultural radar.
One example comes from the website Vox.com – not a traditionally Pro-Life outlet in any sense (case in point: this abortion-sympathetic piece). After the March for Life, Vox released a feature on Pro-Lifers that proves to be quite a breath of fresh air. The diversity of Pro-Lifers was underscored when Vox interviewed a small sampling of attendees at the March for Life – from humble Pro-Lifers who return year after year to stand up for the preborn to household names in the Pro-Life movement. The feature was a balanced look at the movement that unabashedly acknowledged the power and size of the Pro-Life cause.
This year, the Associated Press portrayed the March for Life relatively well. Giving the hundreds of thousands of marchers any media coverage sets the AP above the other major media outlets this year. One northeastern news outlet reported that “half a million” marched for Life in DC—a number much closer to the reality than the “few thousand” often falsely reported. This ABC affiliate gave viewers remarkably unbiased coverage of the March for Life, accurately calling the event a day of “remembrance.”
Nevertheless, the vast majority of March for Life coverage and Pro-Life media attention in general still comes directly from explicitly Pro-Life and Christian outlets. That the mainstream media have been unwilling to keep pace with the turning tide of public opinion on abortion testifies to their anti-Life bias and their increasing disconnect from mainstream America. Did you see good coverage of the March for Life in Washington or Rally for Life in Austin this year? If so, tell us in the comments below.