Thousands of people marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.on On Septe. 12, to protest government spending, before stopping at the U.S. Capitol Building for demonstrations.

Thousands of demonstrators gather on the plaza near the U.S. Capitol to participate in a “Taxpayer March on DC” protest against President Barack Obama’s fiscal and economic policies including the administration’s health care reform plans in Washington, September 12, 2009. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

The rally was by many accounts one of the biggest in recent memory, with estimates ranging anywhere from 75,000 people having attended according to the DC Fire Department to one million according to The Daily Mail in England to two million by some conservative reporters.
But according to 23-year-old independent journalist Sophia Elena, a former CNN international desk intern who posted a video of the rally filmed from on top of the Capitol building at her Web site sophiaelena.com, the march wasn’t about conservative vs. liberal or Republicans vs. Democrats. While there was a strong conservative presence, this was simply about people from all walks of life exercising their First Amendment rights.

“Just by looking, you couldn’t tell what party they belonged to, most had American flags, not Republican or Democratic signs” Elena said in a phone interview.

“It was like a big happy family.”

The main issues addressed by protestors according to Elena were the current administration’s spending spree, which has plunged the U.S. further into debt, as well as the debate over their proposed healthcare plan.

Targets regarding government spending included the current administration’s lack of transparency for the $700 billion (or possibly a number in the trillions when it’s all said and done according to CNN), bank bailouts as well as the climate change-centered and House-approved cap-and-trade law pending approval in the Senate, which CBSNews.com reported could possibly cost U.S. taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of a 15% personal income tax raise.

Elena said the protestors’ focus regarding healthcare was on reducing costs and ensuring more choice for citizens.

Other opinions about the so-called “tea party” movement have typecast anti-government or anti-Obama protestors as being almost exclusively white, or in some cases racist, but Elena said that the crowd was quite diverse for the September 12 rally.

“I didn’t see any angry mobs, just good American people and families from all walks of life,” she said. “I’ve heard people say there were only whites and no African Americans but it was a very large group of different people; it was a representation of my country I would say.”

Elena was disappointed with the coverage of the rally in the mainstream media, and the surprising lack of footage on TV has led over 70,000 people to view her youtube.com video, which shows people marching down Pennsylvania Avenue along with a wide-ranging view of the rally from atop the Capitol building. Elena said she asked a Congressman to let her on top of the building to film after she was initially denied by security.

“The point I wanted to make is, I’m just an independent young journalist and a student, how hard is it really to report what’s going on with a camera? I think it’s really important that people can see what’s going on and if the mainstream media is not showing it, I don’t see how people can make a proper judgment on what’s going on,” she said.

Elena was taken aback by people who said the crowd shots in her video were fake.

“A lot of people have said I’ve doctored or looped the footage but I think it’s disrespectful that people would say that,” Elena said.

“I’m a journalist and I would never do anything like that. I did what I did because the media is so biased and I think it’s so important for people to have unbiased sources.”

Elena had a hard time putting a number on how many people attended the rally, but guessed that the correct estimate is probably somewhere in the middle of the two extremes that have been reported.

She also covered a rally the next day consisting of people who supported healthcare the way the bill is currently constructed, which was attended by about 250 people.

But Elena said that the purpose of her reporting over the past weekend wasn’t about who was wrong or who was right, or how many people attended each rally.

It was about the importance of honest journalism as well as relaying the importance of protecting Americans’ right to peacefully assemble.

“I’d like people to know there are other options for news and it’s important to look at many sources,” she said.

“Protesting is extremely important; we marched right past the building where the First Amendment was posted on the wall and it says ‘people have the right to free exercise of religion, freedom of the press, and the right to peacefully assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.’

“If this is how the voices can be heard and this is what needs to happen, then so be it.”