(Image via flickr)

Thousands of protestors have gathered across Australia over the weekend to rally against the Abbott government’s contentious federal budget.

A sequel of sorts, March in May was similar to the grassroots March in March held earlier this year, which protested a rejection of Tony Abbott as Prime Minister from various societal groups.

However the reportage of both protests by the mainstream media has been vastly different, raising the issue of the politics behind what is included and excluded in our media coverage.

Many people were quick to jump on the fact that Australia’s mainstream print publications and television stations largely ignored the March in March. However, this time around, many outlets have seemingly learnt from their mistakes and joined in the reporting of the protests.

Both left-wing and right-wing supporters made a series of complaints earlier in the year about the coverage that March in March received.

Andrew Bolt accused the ABC of failing to condemn a string of anti-Abbott placards which they published images of, whilst protesters wrote countless letters to the editor claiming the rallies deserved more attention. Fairfax reader Timothy Pembroke wrote one such open letter which was viewed over 90,000 times in one week.

According to Media Watch, on Monday 17 March following the protests The Australian ran a small article in the State section of the newspaper, whilst The Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, and The Sydney Morning Herald didn’t print anything.

This time around in May, the Daily Telegraph has published a front page photo of the protests. Admittedly, they ridicule the protestors as “ferals” who are “revolting”, but at least the protests are receiving coverage.

Both events were organised through social media channels, with a mushrooming collection of March in March/May Facebook pages. Over the weekend social media was flooded with hashtags such as #marchinmay and #bustthebudget as citizens took to their smartphones to voice their discontent.

Probably my favourite sign of #marchinmay #bustthebudget pic.twitter.com/pToEEgJYAa

— Alyx Gorman (@AlyxG) May 18, 2014

Grassroots non-partisan protests like the ones we have seen in March and May are a fundamental democratic right. But an increasing concern of our entangled digital world is defining the role that digital journalism plays in this.

Should mature democracies embrace dissent and encourage participation in the way we have seen these marches do? What then, is the role of the fifth estate in assisting this?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.