Be tough on yourself. If a reporter can put the activists into an existing category, she will. It makes her job easier. The photographer looked for the easy image, and took it. The point is that we need to be careful about the image we present.
Image is everything.
If a person looks at a newspaper and sees the picture of a someone he has nothing in common with, chances are very good that that person will dismiss the issue that person represents as well. This isolates us, and marginalizes our issues. I shudder to think how many people in the general public have been turned off to protecting the environment because they believe only weirdos care about that kind of stuff. In other words, don't let the messenger upstage the message. You have to remember with whom you're dealing, and what you want to accomplish.