May Day March Draws Hundreds!
May 1, 2000
The May Day March was a tremendous success, drawing nearly 300
people to the Capitol. As well, it brought record media coverage to TFT and
our call for tax justice. "It was one of the best organized events I have ever
been to," stated Jean Stone of Chattanooga.
In planning the march, members and staff worked to insure that
there was a media presence in every single city where people came from. TFT
chartered three buses that came from the Northeast, the Southeast, and the West.
Members held media events in every city as the buses were picking up folks,
including Memphis, Jackson, Chattanooga, Cookeville, Crossville, Knoxville,
and Kingsport.
TFT’s Legislative Caucus, which did much of the Nashville
planning for the march itself, contracted for the first time with the Capitol
Media Service to film the march and beam footage up to satellite so
 TV
stations could use the footage wherever they may be. As a result, TV stations
around the state would have a full story, both the local story with interviews
of members as they boarded the bus, along with footage from the march itself.
The strategy worked!
The story was aired on at least 14 TV stations from Memphis to
Tri-Cities. Each station aired it between 2 and 4 times, resulting in at least
30 televised news stories. These stories featured TFT members at the local level,
many of whom had just been through one of TFT’s media trainings. "We’re
getting better at this every time we do something," as board member Rachel
Bliss stated afterwards. This is in addition to 4 radio stories and at least
10 print media stories.
Click
here to see the Tennessean article on the May Day March.
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