Size of crowd

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33655, 3 October 1974, Page 12

Size of crowd

Sir, —On September 21 “The Press” carried a front page headline “10,000 march on Parliament,” and a story about the anti-abortion rally organised by the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child. The Wellington “Evening Post” of the same date put the number of people taking part in the march on Parliament as “more than 4000.” It is not easy to estimate the number of people involved in a mass event such as a march but the difference between “more than 40Q0” and "about 10,000” surpasses understanding and raises major doubts as to the credibility of the two newspapers. You obviously cannot speak for the “Evening Post” but i would be grateful for an explanation of the figure published by “The Press,” particularly as other media spoke of “between 4000 and 5000.”—Yours, etc.,

D. C. JOHNSTON. September 23, 1974. [Mr G. W. Jenkins, news editor of the New Zealand Press Association, replies: “The estimate of 10,000 people was provided by the senior policeman on duty in Parliament grounds that night. Our own reporter thought that the crowd was between 7000 and 8000 which he compared with the 7000 people who were said to be in the grounds of Parliament Buildings for the funeral of Mr Kirk. However, he deferred to the judgment of the police officer concerned. I am unable to comment on the method by which the ‘Evening Post’ estimated the number taking part in the march as ‘more than 4000’.”]