What's Politico's source for claiming 10,000 protesters gathered in D.C. today?

[babylonsister]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200911050039

What's Politico's source for claiming 10,000 protesters gathered in D.C. today?

November 05, 2009 3:05 pm ET by Eric Boehlert


I'm curious because Politico states the number as fact without providing additional information:

The crowd grew to about 10,000 by noon – a significant gathering for a weekday but far less than the 9/12 protests earlier this fall.

Politico's Jonathan Martin clearly seemed impressed that 10,000 people showed up to protest health care reform. But did 10,000 people actually show up? And more importantly, where did that number come from? As we've seen in the recent past, crowd estimates for political rallies can take on a greater significance, and therefore journalists need to be as precise as possible when reporting on the figures. Instead, Politico simply announced 10,000 protesters had rallied without explaining where that figure came from.

By contrast, here's how MSNBC's First Read reported on the rally:

NBC's Luke Russert, reporting from the West Front of the Capitol, passes along this photo of a cartoon Pelosi with the words "UNAMERICAN MCCARTHYITE" scrawled across. The crowd, per Russert, is so far about 3,000 to 3,500, according to Capitol Police estimates...

*** UPDATE *** Three Capitol Hill police officers all guessed that the crowd numbered at about 4,000.

NBC, relying on estimates from local police, put the crowd number at 4,000. So what source did Politico rely on when it arrived at the much larger 10,000 figure?

Curious minds want to know.

[hobbit709]

1. Same counting technique that was used on 9/12.

Make up a number and run with it, inflating the count every ten minutes.

[krispos42]

2. Same way caveman count

One, two, three, many.

[jschurchin]

3. I heard it was 1.5 million

But then again it was from Faux Entertainment, previously known as Faux News. :evilgrin:

[PatGund]

7. The birthers and other cranks...

Are claiming the 9/12 number at 3.5 MILLION.

Expect the amount on this one to two to at least 150,000 or more within a few weeks.

[MNDemNY]

4. It was at least a gagillion!!

[Cha]

5. Politico LIES AGAIN..yeah, I'm talking to

you, Politico..you're getting an ugly rep on the net.

Here's some contact information..if anyone has any better sources, please let us know.

http://www.politico.com/aboutus/

[FiveGoodMen]

15. Lying needs penalties.

Otherwise the liars will always win.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Politico is a seriously fucked source that should be banned from DU......

They pull shit out of their ass and call it news all of the time.

It couldn't be any clearer, and yet some continue to "drudge" over to their site,
and provide them with the traffic and links they need to boost their business.

I'm not that hard up for fake made up news.....not even a little bit.

Fuck Politico is always my answer no matter the story.
They have earned the treatment I give them.

[babylonsister]

12. I let Media Matters 'drudge' over to their site, but I do enjoy MM

calling politico out just about daily. :evilgrin:

[struggle4progress]

14. Thank you!

[Oceansaway]

8. Politico = Human Waste....n/t

[blondeatlast]

9. Their usual reliable informant: their ass. nt

[virgogal]

10. Who knows? There are still discussions going on about

the million man march attendance.

What difference does it make?

[babylonsister]

21. Wow. So we should just ignore the media when they outright lie?

You can. :eyes:

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Funny, I thought the actual 9/12 count WAS 10,000.

If this is also 10,000, how can it be 'not as big as' 9/12?

[ShortnFiery]

13. Their ass ... from whence they pulled it out of.

:P

[shawn703]

16. I saw three teabaggers today

Walking down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol. Not really much of a crowd.

[timeforpeace]

17. As what's her face likes to say here, got a link for that? aka prove it!!11!1.

[AllieB]

19. Capitol Police estimated 3000-3500 not 10K

[babylonsister]

20. Did you miss the link in the OP? Or go read politico-I won't. nt

[AllieB]

22. His name is an oxymoron, in case you haven't noticed.

There's been a pizza baking for a long, long time...

[madrchsod]

18. it`s politico! nothing more needs to be said

[O is 44]

23. Don't ya know facts...

are repellent to Republican rags.