Tea Parties will not be Ignored

It wasn't hardly mentioned on Google News. In fact, you had to work your way down the page to find it, but the Tea Party enjoyed a bash to remember in our nation's capital this weekend. It is the kind of event that the mainstream media has tried desperately to avoid. The numbers on how many that showed up are fuzzy, at best:

• A reporter for the Examiner said around 30,000 showed up



• ABC news reported over 60,000



• NPR called it "tens of thousands"



• CNN is even more non-committal, merely describing the numbers in the thousands



• Ironically, the closest number came from a British newspaper, the Daily Mail, which put it at approximately 2 million (actually citing Capitol Hill police)
  

I guess the British didn't have a vested interest in the numbers like the US media. American news sources are so vested in this Administration (after all, the news made history in the way it handled Obama, it didn't merely witness it). Not only has the media dramatically underestimated the numbers of those who attended, but has also presented the story with rather harsh headlines:

• The Kansas City Star notes "Angry Tea Party protesters flood D.C."


• The CNN, in its classically cynical fashion says "Health care reform critics converge on Capitol." I don't know anyone, including those in the tea party movement, who don't want to see health care reform. However, if you oppose the President's approach, you oppose reform according to the news. There is nothing like objective media.


• Another Examiner writer argues about "The Hypocrisy of Tea Party Conservatives."


• One writer finds one of the protests' more crude protesters with "Tea Party protest: 'Bury Obama Care with Kennedy.'"

The media is committed to marginalizing and dismissing the tea party movement as a very temporary fad. Ironically, that seems to be only driving the tea party movement further. As the numbers continue to be measured in terms of fractions by the media , the Tea Party provides one of the largest protests on the Capitol in our nation's history. For the Tea Party, the best days are yet to come.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

The Role of Geography in News

There was a time where it made sense for the distribution of news to be confined to one or two locations. Instead of sending news from Dallas, Kansas City, Chicago and other cities to all cities around the country, it was simpler to send information to major sources and for them to distribute it. It fit the technology limits of the time, but is no longer necessary today because of the online world we now live in.

The choice location for news to be sent was New York, which became the industry "leader" in journalism. More news is distributed from New York than any other source. The vast majority of the content in magazines, newspapers, and other traditional media are from the "Big Apple" and it is from that city's perspective that news is often "couched" or interpreted.

New York has polling numbers of "liberals vs. conservatives" that is almost twice the national average leaning to the left. Very few states -- maybe Hawaii, Vermont, or Massachusetts -- can even compete. Furthermore, the center of the universe of New York City is a tiny little neighborhood that yields a disproportionate amount of power called Wall Street. There is no question that the businesses traded there have a profound effect on the nation's economy, but it doesn't even come close to creating a majority of the jobs in this country (that honor goes to small businesses around the nation). Simply put, New York has an exaggerated view of itself and seems to measure the importance of all news on how it reflects on this small area.

The other major source for news is the nation's capital, Washington, DC. Having had lived many years there, I can speak first hand about the extent of its self importance. Those on the left content the rest of the nation cannot feed itself without an act of Congress. We are a nation of pets waiting to be taken care of by those far brighter than ourselves. This has long been the case, but seems to have hit an all time high under the Obama administration. Those on the right, on the other hand, have largely become cowards. They are no longer fighting for what is right and what is wrong, but are merely hoping to slow down the break neck pace of socialism. Those in the policy process that actually ask the question of what government can and should do are simply laughed at as irrelevant. It isn't "cool" to think the constitution matters. All sides there seem to think that policy is crucial, rather than the millions of people who create meaningful lives for themselves in spite of the governments best and worse efforts.

Combined these two cities add up to around 10 million people. Than there are the other 290 million of us who are fed up with the arrogance of both cities. People who believe that the average American is more capable of pursuing his or her destiny than the best government institutions can do for them. These people believe that the Constitution matters and if you swear to defend it, you better do so. These same people know that the vast majority of jobs are made by them and in spite of government.

The explosion of the blogosphere and social media are directly linked to the national discontentment towards both Washington, DC and Wall Street. People are making their own media that provides a better picture of reality than the vast majority of the mainstream media. In my opinion we have only seen the beginning of news media driven by the people. There is more to come and the need is huge. The news media was intended for the people and like what you are seeing with the Tea Party movement and government, expect the people take the news industry back also. These are interesting times indeed.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.