False News Article on Tea Parties

Vancouver Sun Article

Rising popularity in the polls for Obama, a strengthening economy, and the unfortunate choice of name for the movement [I have edited this part for obvious reasons] are considered the prime reasons for the failure of the event, but recent exposure of the groups behind the protests also drove some away.

Read the article and you will understand the above edit.

The Vancouver Sun appears to be either being intentionally misleading or is terribly misinformed.

The newspaper makes three claims which I believe are incorrect.



1. Obama's popularity is rising in the polls

Zogby Poll claims Obama's dropping approval rating. Polled 4,523 people

(Numbers for Zogby Poll)

The NYT-CBS poll claims Obama's ratings increased. Polled 998 people.

I would argue that Zogby's poll is more accurate because a larger sample was taken.



2. The economy is improving


Associated Press

The recession is easing? Not so fast. An unexpected drop in sales of just about everything from cars to clothes sent a sobering message Tuesday: The economy is still vulnerable.

Reuters Article

The economy is still in bad shape. Is this just some twisted joke by this newspaper?



3. The event was a failure

Reports vary widely and I will withhold judgment until more conclusive evidence is presented. The estimates of attendance simply vary too much right now.


In all my years I have never seen a newspaper article this biased.

What happened to journalism?

[edit on 16-4-2009 by Studious]

I personally went to a teaparty this afternoon (er... yesterday, it's late now). The facebook site had 2000 registered people to show up, it ended up being around 7000 total. This was in Oklahoma City. There were about 10 or so others around the state going on at the same time.

There was quite a range of people there. Personally I consider myself a libertarian, and hold some constitutionalist values as well. I saw very few signs being derogatory of Obama. A LOT of them were bashing the politicians in general, mostly congress. Dont get me wrong though, I did see one sign in particular that I though was fairly racist. I didnt think it sent the right message, but to each his own I guess.

I designed t-shirts to sell out there and a sign, ended up making the money I spent back but not much else. I was interviewed by 2 media outlets though. One sure as hell seemed like he didnt want to be there. He was pretty irked that I was bashing both the REPs and DEMs. I guess he was looking for something more sensational. The other reporter seemed pretty excited, so at least it balanced itself out.

reply to post by Studious


I think FOX News and the Republican Party have co-opted a message to try and get some respect. The Republicans and their deregulation along with Democrats are the reason we are in this huge mess.

I also give President Obama points for at least explaining why we need the stimulus package. If the government does not spend money and start a demand for goods and services, then there will be more layoffs. I do not agree with everything Obama has done, but tax cuts are not going to get us out of this mess.

BTW, the only taxes that are rising are those of the most wealthy. They are going from 35% rate to the Clinton era of (are you ready for this shocking number?) 38%! I am not a fan of taxes either, but I think it is about time to make the corporations who use the Cayman Islands as a front to pay the over $100 billion in taxes they evade each year. Let's close the loopholes first and then start the tea parties.

The point I am trying to make here is not whether any side is correct or not.

I'm merely pointing out what is obviously extreme bias in a supposedly respectable newspaper.

Why would a newspaper use derogatory and explicit language that I have to edit when posting?

This thread is about the fall of non-biased journalism. Possibly even the fall of respectable journalism.


They apparently have changed the name of the headline for the article.

However the offending content is exactly the same.

Original Headline
New Headline


[edit on 16-4-2009 by Studious]

[edit on 16-4-2009 by Studious]

It is not in the best interests of a biases news outlet to tell the truth when perhaps they have been spinning things in a different way.

If you are writing about how well the economy is doing, you will not also report how horrible the DJIA is right now. If you are spinning that president obama is the greatest thing since sliced bread, you will not also run a story that has thousands of people protesting.

Newspapers have had the opportunity to come clean and get their subscribers back, but they have missed the memo that there exists other news options and now in a world of their own. I guess when they are selling their presses at auction, perhaps they will understand.

Corny, but denial ain't just a river in Egypt.