What if tens of thousands of protesters poured into Washington, D.C., exercising their free speech and joining peacefully to participate in public debate? How would the MSM cover them?

If it’s tens of thousands of pro-illegal alien marchers, they get front-page, banner headline-plus-multimedia bonanza, panoramic coverage gushing over their ability to “flood the Mall” with “passion” and “pride.” Remember?

If it’s Cindy Sheehan and her anti-war rabble, they get frenzied breaking-news, gaggle-crammed, hagiographic coverage:

But if it’s tens of thousands of pro-life marchers? You’d hardly know they overwhelmed the National Mall yesterday. The story made A10 in the Washington Post under the blah-blah headline, “Abortion Foes to Renew Efforts.”

The stingy photo gallery on the WaPo’s website had just 8 photos–3 of which were of a tiny counter-protest by pro-abortion demonstrators and only 1 of which was a medium-wide shot of the Mall showing the pro-life crowd. Tim Graham noticed the same bias:

The story was illustrated by color photos, but in a far too common tactic, the Post balanced a picture of four pro-life demonstrators with “Defend Life” signs in daylight against a photo of four or five feminists with “Keep Abortion Legal” signs at an evening Supreme Court vigil. One side turns out tens of thousands, and the other turned out tens. The Post didn’t exactly balance its photos when it came to illegal-alien rallies, not to mention the number of column inches was vastly larger.

The Washington Times had better coverage, but no pics [clarificaton - no pics on the website. WashTimes editor Robert Stacy McCain notes that the paper carried two large photos of the march prominently in the print edition]. I was at Union Station yesterday as marchers streamed in after the event. The place was absolutely packed–wall-to-wall with families, babies, toddlers, teens, and college undergrads. I wish I had my camera, because the vast number of young people really struck me. Throngs and throngs of ordinary kids who came from all across the country to express their pro-life views in the bitter cold. You never see them on the nightly news or the front page of the major newspapers.

Fortunately, pro-life blogger Barbara at Mommy Life brought her camera. Check out her photo gallery for the scenes missing from the national papers’ front pages.

What liberal media?