The headlines and estimates of the number of protesters make it clear that the progressive media supports the protesters and opposes the ‘war on terror’. The content of the articles and commentaries makes this support even clearer. The writers openly proclaim the protests a success and criticize President Bush’s policies.

The Nation, “A Peaceful Justice?”, Liza Featherstone

“… it’s encouraging to see how quickly the global economic justice movement has embraced peace and security issues—and that peace organizations seem ready to tackle the economic roots of violence and to connect US militarism to global economic inequality.”

October 22, 2001

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The Nation, “Strange Marchfellows”, Liza Featherstone

“Despite the squabbling and the dearth of media coverage, the success of [the April 20th prostest] should be heartening to the antiwar movement. Lawson-Remer says, ‘This is such a demonstration that the consensus is not what they [the Bush administration] say it is.’”

May 13, 2002

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CounterPunch, “200,000 Protest the ‘War Without End’: ‘We Are All Palestinians Today’”, Mike Leon

“President George W. Bush’s response – redeclared a ‘war on international terrorism’ that bequeathed in a matter of weeks a death toll of innocent civilians in Afghanistan surpassing the Al-Quida attack – prompted an estimated 200,000 people to march on Washington D.C. on April 20th to demand that American foreign policy ‘stop the killing’ of innocent civilians, end the occupation of Palestine and pursue social justice as an animating principle vis-à-vis an administration willingness to potentially brand any country or individual a terrorist under the Bush Doctrine.”

April 21, 2002

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By reporting protests as well-attended and successful challenges to US foreign policy, progressive journalists help represent the anti-war movements as strong and successful forms of democratic dissent.