I posted a video earlier this week about the Million Man March, which was held in Washington DC on October 10th. It is an annual event, this year's being special, because it marks the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. People gathered in front of the Washington Monument from all over the country, with many celebrities making an appearance. So why was the coverage of such an event so scarce on cable news networks? What reasonable explanation could there be for such an event to go unnoticed? With all the negative attention that hip hop has attracted since it's inception into the mainstream spotlight, for rappers to show and walk with ordinary people as part of such a positive event, you would think that at least they would get some attention for just being there. However, that was simply not the case. I didn't really get any details of the event until I looked for it online. The concept of mass media catering to its audience was one of the first things I thought of when hearing about how much attention this event DIDN'T get. The fact that the largest demographic of viewers probably wouldn't be that interested in the Million Man March isn't that surprising to me, but that doesn't make it any less sad. People talk a big game about changing the we we think of each other, but that will never happen if our motivations for what we choose to show people in the news doesn't change.
I too was completely blown away by the lack of coverage for the Million Man March. I happened to be in D.C. during the time of the event and was displeased to find that not even the local news had coverage of the event. It makes us wonder what purpose does the news actually serve. Lately it has become more and more evident that news media is not at all interested in covering news, but portray stories. It is obvious that the Million Man March was just simply not a story worth portraying so therefore it just did not constitute as news.
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