(Thumbnail Image: CNN)

“This is the backyard of Senate majority leader Harry Reid, but today it’s the backdrop of this Tea Party Express.  Making a stop here, hundreds of people, at least dozens of people.  We haven’t gotten a real count of how many people have turned out there.” (weaselzippers.net)

Well it turns out there were more than dozens of Tea Partiers—a lot more.  And now conservatives are calling CNN’s lowball estimate just the latest tip-off to the network’s anti-Tea Party bias.

More than an hour before its start time, cars lined the highway leading to the rally. And once inside, the lines and crowds grew even larger—with thousands of partiers waiting to see former Governor Sarah Palin speak.

On the blog Newsbusters, a columnist says with conflicting reports--CNN and other news outlets have only themselves to blame for a perceived anti-Tea Party slant.

“If the media outlets are going to report on tea party events, they're not likely to get any benefit of the doubt much of the time. …[Politico] had a little higher number, saying ‘an estimated 20,000 tea partiers gathered for a rally in a windswept desert lot.’”

And Greg Gutfeld on Fox News took a shot at CNN, saying its coverage is anything but balanced when it comes to covering grass roots movements. 

"Here's a shot of a Tea Party protest from last September, and here's one coffee event from D.C.  Alright, so why would CNN choose to ridicule a movement of perhaps hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters but canonize a coffee clatch of Doonesbury fans?  Could it be that CNN wishes the numbers were reversed?  Probably."

Finally, the blog Berman Post defends CNN’s process of people-counting—kind of. 

“Granted 'at least dozens' is not a lie, but it does seem an intentional misrepresentation. When people talk about estimates the assumption is that they are guessing relatively close to the number. If I told you a politician received at least a few hundred votes you would think I was talking about some small town position; though the way CNN used the number I could be talking about Obama.”

So is CNN purposely playing down the Tea Party’s popularity—or are Tea Partiers being too touchy?

Writer: Chance Seales

Producer: Newsy Staff