What if pro-choice people held a rally and the stories were printed about it before it even happened?

Can you just hear the screaming?

FoxNews finally rings in, and opines that "Thousands Mark Roe V. Wade Anniversary"

Thousands?? I know I wasn't there, but you don't have Pennsylvania Avenue bursting at the seams with humanity for several hours and only count up to 19,999 people, because of course if you had 20,000 or more, it would be accurately and fairly described as multiple "tens of thousands."

Maybe FoxNews is trying to prove it really isn't the rightwingnutfundieconspiracy news group the prochoice side thinks it is.

And note in these news stories, below, all the press on the "thousands of abortion opponents" in San Francisco's march and also in a separate crowd in Minnesota.

How about those who were in San Francisco or Minnesota? Any comments? Does anyone really think that the size of that crowd, respectable as it was, was the same as the crowds in D.C., this or any recent year?

As of 3:25 pm today, Jan. 23, here's what came up:

1. How life's lessons tend to de-polarize the issue
   TIME - 53 minutes ago
   
   (Actually not a story about the march's logistics but a very interesting discussion, I urge all readers of both ilks to read it. Not sure I agree with all written, but good food for thought)
   
2. Demonstrators mark Roe vs. Wade anniversary
   San Diego Union Tribune, United States - 1 hour ago
   By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez. WASHINGTON – President Bush told abortion opponents Monday that they are pursuing "a noble cause" and ...
   
   Doesn't even estimate any number for the crowd...
   
   
3. Bush tells abortion foes, 'We will prevail'
   CNN - 1 hour ago
   Abortion opponents listen to a phone call from President Bush Monday on the Washington Mall. SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- President ...
   
   Same as above, but also mentions "thousands" in Minnesota and "In Idaho, nearly 400 abortion protesters marched Saturday" and that "About half that number gathered Sunday outside the Idaho Capitol in support of abortion rights."
   
   
4. Abortion Opponents to Mark Roe v. Wade
   Washington Post, United States - 2 hours ago
   "Tens of thousands of abortion opponents held a rally ... "
   
   Better, better. But though the timestamp of the article says 3:42 PM, google's cache says it was put online at about 1:25. For pete's sake, the march hadn't even started by then! How could they estimate the crowd, really?
   
   
5. Demonstrators Mark Roe V. Wade Anniversary
   ABC News - 3 hours ago
   Larissa Mariano, left, and Annika Carlson, right, both 20 years-old, and both from Hope College in Holland, Mich., take part in the pro-choice candlelight ...
   
   Three hours ago, at 12:25 pm. The speakers had been speaking for a half-hour. No way to estimate crowds.
   
   
6. Demonstrators Mark Roe V. Wade Anniversary
   Houston Chronicle, United States - 4 hours ago
   By JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ Associated Press Writer. WASHINGTON — On the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, abortion opponents gathered ...
   
   
7. Demonstrators mark Roe vs. Wade anniversary
   San Diego Union Tribune, United States - 4 hours ago
   By Martiga Lohn. ST. PAUL, Minn. – On the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Katie Whitte braved below-freezing temperatures outside ...
   
   Four hours ago, at 11:25 AM. The speakers hadn't even gotten on the stage yet, and they're publishing their news on the entire event for the day. There, all in a good day's reporting!
   
   
8. Demonstrations Mark Roe Anniversary
   CBS News - 6 hours ago
   (CBS/AP) Thousands were gathering in Washington Monday to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. ...
   
   Six hours ago, at 9:25 AM. Good way to report on an event that hasn't. even. happened. yet.
   
   Also, nowhere in this article did it actually say they estimated the D.C. marching crowd to be "thousands." Or any other number. Still, CBS/AP gets to appear like they really reported the truth of this day's events. The "truth." They wouldn't know it if they fell over it. I am quite certain the reporters saw "thousands gathering." Here and there. Pockets of people. Over the weekend. But they completely ignored the coming together of all those many thousands today on Pennsylvania Avenue.
   
   
9. At 33, Roe's delicate as a baby
   Chicago Sun-Times, United States - 10 hours ago
   BY JUSTIN M. NORTON. SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of abortion opponents shouldering signs with slogans such as ''Peace Begins in the ...
   Oh, wait, that's San Francisco.
   
   
10. Duelling rallies tackle abortion
    Calgary Sun, Canada - 11 hours ago
    By AP. SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of abortion opponents shouldering signs with slogans such as "Peace begins in the womb" marched ...
    
    That's San Francisco, too.
    
    
11. Rallies mark 33 years since abortion ruling
    Indianapolis Star, United States - 12 hours ago
    By Martiga Lohn. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Thousands of abortion opponents massed outside Minnesota's Capitol on Sunday in one of several ...
    
    
12. Abortion Foes Protest on Roe Anniversary
    Los Angeles Times, CA - 12 hours ago
    ST. PAUL, Minn. — Thousands of abortion opponents gathered outside Minnesota's Capitol on Sunday to protest the 33rd anniversary of the Roe vs. ...
    
    Wow. Thousands more in Minnesota. Do you suppose they all bussed to D.C. in one day to be the "thousands" that were reported there today?
    Minnesota's event was also covered by Seattle Times, United States - 12 hours ago, Houston Chronicle, United States - 13 hours ago, San Jose Mercury News, USA - 17 hours ago, Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN - 20 hours ago.
    
    
13. Miami Herald, FL - 12 hours ago
    Lawmakers are positioning several states to revisit Roe vs. Wade at a time when new faces on the Supreme Court could put the issue in play again. ...
    
    
14. Some states getting ready to revisit Roe v. Wade
    Boston Globe, United States - 12 hours ago
    By PJ Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times | January 23, 2006. INDIANAPOLIS -- Taking direct aim at Roe v. Wade, lawmakers from several ...
    
    
15. Both sides march on Roe anniversary
    CNN - 16 hours ago
    SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Thousands of abortion opponents shouldering signs with slogans such as "Peace Begins in the Womb" marched in protest of the 33 ...
    
    That's San Francisco, too. As was Miami Herald, FL - Jan 22, 2006,
    
    
16. A protest to note abortion anniversary
    Newsday, NY - 16 hours ago
    BY SAMUEL BRUCHEY. "..more than 100 opponents of abortion gathered in East Meadow, Lond Island..."
    
    Anyone from that Long Island protest care to share how many they saw there?

Look at all those "big" news outlets printing their "big stories" on the March for Life 2006, as early as an entire 9 hours before it even started. Yeah, I feel like I'm really being well-informed by my news sources, oh, yeah.

This media debacle being exposed for what it is aside, I know it really isn't ultimately about the numbers that brave freezing temperatures, rain, snow, long distance travel by bus, whatever. It's easy to come out for a stroll in lovely-springtime-Washington-D.C. when the famous dogwood flowers are all in bloom along the Potomac.

But I do find it interesting that someone official with the National Parks and/or Monuments department had to have let someone get high enough to take the aerial photo of the March for Choice that graces the recent cover of Planned Parenthood's Annual Report, but yet, mysteriously, no one from the prolife side is allowed to take the same aerial panoramic shots.

We're not allowed equal access and time. We're "anti-abortion," after all.

Please. Who do ya have to pay off for such bennies, I ask you.


UPDATE at 7:10 PM, on the EVENING NEWS BROADCASTS:
I could only catch ABC, NBC, and CBS at 6:30, plus Lehrer News Hour at 7:

• ABC: fully 2 minutes, about 14 minutes into the half-hour, but not just about the MFL. They covered how five states (IN, OH, SD, TN and a fifth I can't recall and haven't found yet in researching) are producing bills to regain their states' right to legislate abortion, which would of course elicit challenges which could lead to them being fought all the way to the Supreme Court.
  
• NBC: 20 seconds, about 22 minutes into the half-hour, quote of note: "tens of thousands" were there on the mall, according to NBC.
  
• CBS: I may have missed it, but I caught no mention of the MFL06 at all. Anyone?
  
• Lehrer: 50 seconds of coverage, also a cursory mention of the prochoice gathering the night before. I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT WHEN THEY SHOWED A CLIP OF AN ELECTED OFFICIAL AT THE PODIUM, THE "I REGRET MY ABORTION" SIGN WAS HOISTED BY A PERSON BEHIND HIM, AND FLASHED BRIEFLY ON NATIONAL TV THEN.