the  protesters myth   I understand that some members have a politically motivated desire to make the  election look as sinister and antidemocratic  as possible but you have to get the facts straight about these four sources on  protesters This one shouldnt be considered altogether It is a UNHCR page quoting instead of a reliable news source a Washingtonbased foundation whose purpose is to inform and educate policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information  It is a politically biased organization not an independent news source So out with it These two   are respectively the Voice of America and MSNBC not MSNBC really but a direct quote from Bloomberg here So in reality it is VoA and Bloomberg Well let me inform you that we are talking about the same guy  his name is James Brooke as anyone can plainly see since  he has been stationed in Moscow to report for Bloomberg and as of last summer for the VoA as well Leaving aside the fact that the VoA is more of a propaganda tool fully owned by US government rather than an independent news source lets see how Mr Brooke came about this magic number   Apparently he was there but did he count the demonstrators himself No he quotes Associated Press Within an hour the Associated Press was estimating the turnout at   Well it wasnt Anyone can see the number of AP and that number is  A little white lie Mr Brooke Or maybe Im too harsh maybe AP did broadcast that number intially but then seeing how preposterous it was quickly brought it down to what all the other major media guys were reporting In any event this  people thing doesnt hold water Basically the same goes for CBC as well As I already said in one of the comments not only CBC didnt have its own staff in Minsk that night I checked this myself here in Toronto with CBC Headquarters anyone can see how heavily in that article it relied on other media Reuters reportedThe Associated Press reported As we know already from these   quotes both Reuters and Associated Press mentioned  protesters each Given all the above Im removing the  people part from the article