tend to be about as happy about protests there as your parents were when you threw the kegger while they were away

The problem with journalism, any kind of journalism, is that we receive information through the reporter's filter. It's probably the case that this reporter viewed the meeting as a protest, because it promoted ideas that were not echoing the government's official line. That's not a protest. That's speech.

I've written this before on Hive: When I taught social studies, I had a weekly newspaper day. On the way to school I'd pick up a variety of dailies (we had them back then) and show the class the front page. Even before one word in the article was read, the front page showed the editorial bias of the respective papers. Which news items were worthy of front page coverage? Which articles appeared first? How large were the headlines? If an article in one paper appeared on the front page, where did it appear in another paper? Or did it appear at all?

My students were fascinated by the exercise. This was the best demonstration to them that they couldn't trust what they read, or what they were told. I explained to them that they shouldn't trust me. Even if I thought I was being honest, I could be wrong.

The most valuable tool we all have as consumers of information and as citizens, is skepticism.

There...now you know what it was like to be in one of my classes :))