Yesterday's May Day protests for amnesty for illegal aliens received broad, prominent, and positive coverage in the Washington Post Tuesday morning -- a fraction, certainly, of the enormous coverage of April 11, but still signaling the issue's importance in the diversity-conscious Post newsroom. Once again, the liberal bias came through: there were no liberal labels for any activist at the protest, no use of the word "amnesty" in the coverage, and no mention of what speakers said at the protest rallies. One story noted protesters chanted in Spanish "Bush, listen, we are committed to the struggle!" And, perhaps, most importantly: critics of illegal immigration appeared almost nowhere in any of this coverage. (Correction: I originally claimed critics were nowhere, but Clay Waters noted Rep. Tom Tancredo is quoted via Reuters in paragraph 12 of the Fears-Williams overview. My apologies for the error.)
Overall, in Tuesday's Post, there were almost two entire pages of coverage, five stories, four reporters in bylines, 23 credited contributors, 10 photographs (nine in color), and five credited Post photographers. (Six of the ten featured American flags.) The A section carried three stories: a front-page overall story by reporters Darryl Fears and Krissah Williams, a story on a Salvadoran immigrant/store owner with illegal-alien wife and children by Karin Brulliard, and a Reuters dispatch on Mexicans marching in solidarity in Mexico. The Style section carried an article by David Montgomery that noted the strategic discord over Monday's boycotts. For those looking for the socialist/communist angle on May Day protesting, the Reuters story did report from Mexico, without the C-word:
Even Subcomandante Marcos, the leader of the Zapatista rebels who rarely emerges from his jungle hideout, joined the march through Mexico City. The Zapatista rebels took up arms for Indian rights in the southern state of Chiapas 12 years ago.
He was protected by a ring of Zapatista militants, some wielding machetes.
They marched alongside union workers celebrating Labor Day, radicals waving banners showing Russian revolutionary heroes Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, middle-class families and some protesters dressed in clown costumes and banging drums.
