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Media Integrity > Published by Will Straw, September 16th 2009 at 10:50 am

Daily Mail crowd estimate out by 2,000 per cent

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The Daily Mail headline screamed, “A million march to US Capitol to protest against ‘Obama the socialist’.”

But American bloggers at Left Foot Forward’s sister site, Think Progress, have revealed that the organisers inflated the attendance by over 2,000 percent. They reported that Matt Kibbe, leader of the corporate-funded advocacy group which hosted the rally, “proclaimed that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance.” But ABC News was quick to say that they were “misquoted on crowd size.”

The Mail’s own picture caption appeared to hedge their bets declaring, “Tens of thousands of people converged on Capitol Hill on Saturday to protest against government spending.”

UPDATE: Paul Canning writes in his blog post, “Daily Mail has joined the American lunatic fringe,” that:

“So why is the Daily Mail reproducing stories hot from the American right-wing blogosphere?

“Surely the reason why is money? Specifically, the American traffic to which they can sell ads that such stories generate is huge. Plus there’s reason to think it’s money because they have form.

“In January another unsourced Mail story which said that Obama’s inauguration had cost $110m was linked to from the King of the right-wing online, Matt Drudge. That story is also still live and still inaccurate.”

He also draws attention to another stupid placard:

Anti-Obama protesters are proud to display their racism

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/4026300823 Shamik Das

    RT @leftfootfwd: RT @wdjstraw: Daily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/gladys_marie/status/4026325990 Gladys Marie

    RT @wdjstraw: Daily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/paulwmk/status/4026365286 paulwmk

    RT @wdjstraw Daily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/nicholasbirns/status/4026982906 Nicholas Birns

    RT @wdjstrawDaily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/centeredpols/status/4026984639 Centered Politics

    RT @leftfootfwd: RT @wdjstraw: Daily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/nicholasbirns/status/4027044234 Nicholas Birns

    RT @Daily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/nicholasbirns/status/4027049363 Nicholas Birns

    RT @wdjstraw Daily Mail exaggerate anti-Obama crowd size by 2,000 per cent http://bit.ly/jfIjS

  • http://twitter.com/markpack/status/4028212238 Mark Pack

    Daily Mail crowd estimate out by 2,000 per cent | Left Foot Forward http://bit.ly/1nRLsy

  • http://paulcanning.blogspot.com paul canning

    More lengthy piece on this – and what it means – on my blog http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2009/09/daily-mail-has-joined-american-lunatic.html

  • Marcus Roberts

    Nate Silver of 538 as ever adds analytical value to this: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/09/size-matters-so-do-lies.html

  • http://pluralprogressive.wordpress.com/ Luke

    I remember reading the march against the ‘socialist’ Barack Obama in the Mail yesterday. Seemed quite a far-fetched feat for the protest to reach a million. The Daily Mail has been trying to push into the American market for some time, particularly in ex pat States such as Florida.

  • http://www.eaguingamp.co.uk/ French Football

    I really like your blog! I have bookmarked it! Keep up the good work!

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/politics-summary-thursday-september-17th/ Politics Summary: Thursday, September 17th | Left Foot Forward

    [...] President Jimmy Carter has suggested that animosity levelled at Barack Obama – such as protests in Washington, D.C. at the weekend – is “based on the fact that he is a black [...]

  • http://twitter.com/danhancox/status/4050230269 dan hancox

    daily mail inflates numbers on anti-’socialist’ obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo

  • http://twitter.com/nii_teiko/status/4050319770 Nii-Teiko Tagoe

    RT @danhancox: daily mail inflates numbers on anti-’socialist’ obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo <that is a madness. God Bless

  • http://twitter.com/jessicabateman/status/4050465030 Jessica Bateman

    RT @danhancox daily mail inflates numbers on anti-'socialist' obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo

  • http://twitter.com/guyaitchison/status/4050514252 GuyAitchison

    RT @danhancox: daily mail inflates numbers on anti-’socialist’ obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo

  • http://twitter.com/pickledpolitics/status/4050912964 sunny hundal

    RT @danhancox: daily mail inflates numbers on anti-’socialist’ obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo

  • http://twitter.com/coffeebucks/status/4050964638 Heather Noller

    RT: @pickledpolitics: RT @danhancox: daily mail inflates numbers on anti-’socialist’ obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo

  • http://twitter.com/sarahcreen/status/4051184466 Sarah Creen

    RT @danhancox: daily mail inflates numbers on anti-’socialist’ obama demo by 2000% http://tinyurl.com/lpadzo

  • http://twitter.com/richardfrosty/status/4059413967 Richard Frost

    Daily Mail in ‘dodgy journalism’ shocker http://bit.ly/ACP5W

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2009/09/mail-lies-pt-3-work-life-balance-row/ Mail lies Pt 3: Work-life balance row | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Daily Mail are at it again. In a week where they lied about the number of people at an anti-Obama rally and lied about increases in the cost of quangos, [...]