The myth of the 15,000
The crowd outside the state Capitol at the Atlanta tea party. Kimberly Smith/ksmith@ajc.com
Since April 15, when Sean Hannity and the tea party gathered at the state Capitol, a myth has been forming.
Hannity and FoxNews assured us there were 15,000 to 20,000 anti-tax protestors within view of their lenses that night.
The Journal-Constitution said “thousands” and let it go at that. But other news organizations picked up the estimate of 15,000, perhaps thinking they were erring on the conservative side. Google shows 12,500 hits for the word combination of “15,000” plus “Atlanta” plus “tea party.”
The number has acquired accuracy simply through repetition, which makes it something to be addressed.
Since the ‘60s, when demonstrations erupted in full flower, news organizations have been loathe to get bogged down in crowd counts.
Whether members of the left, right or angry center, those in the crowd always insist their numbers feel greater. And they probably do.
But mathematics don’t bend to feelings.
Today is Confederate Memorial Day. State offices are closed, and the weather lovely. It was a good day to pace off the area without sidewalk traffic.
The Capitol is not a hospitable arena for large crowds. It is hemmed in on all sides. Organizers of the Atlanta tea party had given some thought to assembling in Centennial Park, across from CNN, but the deposit was too expensive.
Instead, thousands of people were crammed onto Washington Street, which fronts the Capitol. But these demonstrators had to compete with FoxNews’ remote broadcasting operation, which took up all of one sidewalk and much of the street.
Large TV screens were erected at the Washington intersections with Mitchell and MLK streets, with the hope that crowds would flow down those streets as well. That worked only at Mitchell Street, perhaps because crowds coming from the GSU station of MARTA were directed around the back of the state Capitol, around the old state Department of Transportation building, to Atlanta City Hall. Line of sight was also slightly better.
So there were two population blocs that Wednesday evening — first, Washington Street from Mitchell to MLK. Call it Zone 1. Then Washington down Mitchell to Atlanta City Hall. Call that Zone 2.
Zone 1 contains 32,188 square feet — 515 feet by 62.5 feet. Zone 2 is 11,340 square feet, or 189 by 60 feet. A human being occupies four square feet. Women, because they have larger hips on average, occupy more space. But let’s avoid offending anyone and assume a completely male crowd.
Combined, Zones 1 and 2 total 43,528 square feet. If tax protesters were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, sidewalk-to-sidewalk, filling both Zone 1 and Zone 2 to the brim, there would have been room for 10,882.
But they didn’t. TV trucks and staging took up at least one-third of the space on Washington Street and its sidewalks. Compensating for this, the maximum total space for human beings in Zones 1 and 2 becomes 32,799 square feet. Shoulder-to-shoulder, back-to-chest, that is room for 8,199 people.
While people were indeed shoulder-to-shoulder on Washington Street, or Zone 1, they weren’t in Zone 2, down Mitchell. So a conservative crowd estimate for the Atlanta tea party on April 15 is probably somewhere between 6,500 and 7,500.
It is no small feat to bring that many people to an out-of-the-way spot in downtown Atlanta on a cold, windy workday. It is a deed worthy of much respect. People should pay attention to it.
But 15,000 protestors were not outside the Capitol at Atlanta’s tea party that night — a fact that needs to be set right.
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67 comments Add your comment
Chet
April 28th, 2009
4:26 pm
Shorter right-wing comments:
1. Nuh-uh!
2. The AJC SUCKS!
3. Barrack Obama is a
liberalsocialistFASCIST!So far we have yet to hear from the old saw “b-b-b-but Clinton…”
Lefty
April 28th, 2009
4:38 pm
Hyper: Natch.
Atlanta Media Guy
April 28th, 2009
4:59 pm
I’ve known Jim Galloway for years, he is a very good political reporter. His writings do lean a bit left but most of the AJC writings lean that way. I do not get the AJC any longer, however I do check their online Sports section.
I can’t believe it took the AJC two weeks to settle this argument. Why the delay? What I would like to see in the AJC is someone express some outrage how a 800 Billion dollar piece of legislation that can be passed in the House, while no one reads it. Even today there are more details coming to light about the legislation. How about some good reporting about what’s going on in Washington and under the Gold Dome.
Look no matter what Hannity pants says, Fox News has beaten CNN and MSDNC combined in total viewership from 6am to Midnight during April.. You can look that up at Media Bistro. I do think the liberals are nervous about the O. My neighbors here in Chamblee who voted for Hope & Change were fired up Inauguration day, but now they are becoming tired out from having to explain why they voted for Prompterbama.
Whether there were 6,500 or 15,000 it doesn’t matter. What does matter is what Pelosi, Reid and Obama are doing to the future of this great country.
Adrienne
April 28th, 2009
7:34 pm
The amount of citizens that showed up for the protest was an impressive number, even if it wasn’t 15,000. I applaud you for exercising your right to protest. I really do. Now, people cannot accuse you of sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing.
That being said, I am one of those ‘lefties’ and ‘libs’ you guys are going on, derogatorily about. I skip the rest of those posts, much like you all probably do when you read the posts directed at the Rethugs.
So, that being said, who, exactly, is the target audience for your message? Because, libs, stupid lefties, and communist f&^&tards don’t read them. I would guess the only people who would bother to wade through the Obama/Hitler comparisons, and the stupid ‘lib socialists’, are the people who already agree with you. It isn’t exactly hard to win over the people who already cosign your every word, is it?
sandy
April 28th, 2009
8:41 pm
Do any of you left-leaning, Kum Bi Yah-singing, Bush-bashing idiots have anything else, besides your diatribes against FOX news and hatred of Sean Hannity? You’ve all been drinking WAY too much of the Kool aid – Your worship of Obama and his anti-American policies will be the death of this nation. President Cool will eventually get his way and we will become One Nation under ALLAH very soon. He will continue to do what he promised, Change! Change the US, take your “change”, leave you no change, etc… But you don’t care, as long as you get all your freebies on someone else’s dime. You all are pathetic!
Barry
April 28th, 2009
8:42 pm
The tea party was nothing but a bunch of disgruntled Republican/Ku Klux Klans who need something to rally since they are not in office and now they want to obstruct anyhting, good or bad, that the Democrats are poposing and/or implementing to assist primarily the domestic problems (i.e., bamks, Wall Street, unemployment, etc.) that was created under the Republicans and the Bush administation. I am proud that many real American Republicans are swithching parties (Specter/Pennsylvasnia) due to they see the silliness the Republican leadership is taking them. He knows their party has been hi-jacked by the Ku KLux Klan and their ideology. Therefore, wake up “tea bag heads”. Please get your head oput of the water. I do not care how many of you fools were at the Capitol misinforming your children about history and the real “tea party”. WHat you really need to do is check your leadership and see who they really are in the disquise of the Republican Party. They are leading you to a miserable hell.
God Bless You all
Selah
BS
April 28th, 2009
8:49 pm
4 sq ft? I call BS. I did my own little research and can easily fit into a 2.25 sq ft box (16 inches square), and have been to concerts where I have been much more packed than that. 15,000 is easily done in with 2.25 sq ft. Not to mention that there were many children at these protests which take up less space.
Blue Fielder
April 29th, 2009
12:18 am
The rightard whiners can’t handle that someone isn’t telling the truth about them.
Sore losers.
The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar
April 29th, 2009
5:49 am
Whatever.
The tea-baggers are an odd assortment of morons.
The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar
April 29th, 2009
6:04 am
You’ll always be able to get several thousand Georgians to attend an orgy of hate and stupidity.
Jeff in California
May 4th, 2009
4:35 pm
At 6′ and 250 pounds, I take up more floor space than a good 80% of the people in any room I enter (usually more). I have broad shoulders, but that’s still only 23″ and from the front of my bigger-than-desired belly to the back of my posterior is less than 14″. As Mr. Galloway said, “mathematics don’t bend to feelings”, so let’s do some math: 23″ times 14″ is 322 sq. in. There are 144 sq. in. per square foot, so I take up 2.3 sq. ft. According to http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/181339, the average is 2 sq. ft.
I have no means of verifying the other data Mr. Galloway provided about available area, so I am going to accept them, especially these three statements:
“Zone 1 contains 32,188 square feet”
“… people were indeed shoulder-to-shoulder [in] Zone 1″
“TV trucks and staging took up at least one-third of the space [in Zone 1]”
If everyone packed into Zone 1 were my size, there would have been (32,188 * 2/3) / 2.3 = 9,330 people, significantly higher than Mr. Galloway’s estimate for total attendance.
For the remaining area, we have these statements:
“Zone 2 is 11,340 square feet”
“they weren’t [shoulder-to-shoulder] in Zone 2″
Packed full, that leaves room for another 4,930 people. If only 50% full (and this is just a guess because Mr. Galloway didn’t give an estimate), that works out to 2,165 people on top of the 9,330 people in Zone 1 for a total of 11,495.
Let’s just round that to 11,500.
Keep in mind that these calculations were based on *my* square footage. If we go with 2 sq. ft. as the average, then attendance jumps to 13,220.
Remember… it’s math, people, not politics.
Sean Hannity Inflates Atlanta Tea Party Attendance | Dailycensored.com
May 21st, 2009
2:00 pm
[...] the jump) that 20,000 people attended the Atlanta tea party last month. In fact, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hannity’s and Fox News’ own estimates were 15,000 – 20,000 (so Hannity’s declaration of 20,000 [...]
Anita
July 4th, 2009
11:01 am
It’s a bit surprising hearing from the chief propagators of lies (mainstream media) that it is unacceptable to propagate lies as news. Maybe someone should tell them: “practice what you preach” and “stop picking the splinter out of your brother’s eye when you have a log in your own eye.”
For your information, it can be proven that it was the Associated Press (a primary news source for the mainstream media) that misreported the numbers of attendees at the Tea Party events, conveniently lowering the number – by thousands. I think the AJC, as well as the primary news outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, etc. – need to be more careful in checking their sources before reporting.
I think it is the mainstream media’s EGO that is inflated – since they like to downplay and look down their noses at grassroots movements of real Americans – rather than the numbers.
Bert
September 13th, 2009
1:24 pm
I was at the rally. Your math is off. To determine the square footage of the protest with arbitrary numbers is nothing more than another attempt to coopt science for political purposes. You are grossly underestimating the size of the space that was actually used vs the size of the space that was the stated protest location.
In all honesty, it does not matter how many people were there… what matters is that a substantial group of people are upset with the direction of the country. When your grandmother goes to a protest that should be a wakeup call.
Ron
January 17th, 2010
7:00 pm
Who knows how many people turned out for the first civil rights protest?
I suggest there are few to none that are posting on this site.
The “Tea Parties” are not about head counts but principles.
The press will spin this group of people just like they did with earlier social movements. It is being spun by some poster here. Lets not get lost in political jibberish. Our country and our world is changing. This Country is the last outpost…. This is a bigger issue then simply who is in power in congress at the moment.
Yeahyourright
March 9th, 2010
11:20 am
All of these tea baggers cost the tax payers anywhere from $50,000. to $100,000 per year. By the time you pay to educate their children in public schools and give them a housing subsidy in the form of a mortgage tax write off. Why can’t these morons pay their own way? Get out and support your self while you still know everything.
Away From the Numbers « A Rather Amusing Life
July 5th, 2010
5:06 pm
[...] by the local CBS station to have drawn some 15,000 persons — a figure which, it was later discovered, would quite literally have been physically [...]