it is radical, flag-burning, irreverent, ready to demonstrate -- or worse -- at the slightest provokation. pot-smoking, revolutionary, anti-establishment. red. period.

not that i mind most of those characteristics, or even disagree with their relevance. they are sometimes accurate descriptions. but not always.

in the last week or so, journalists have flocked to berkeley to see what they want to see, to see what they know they will see, to see what they are determined to see. for spectacles of little interest to most in the campus community, with little relevance, events that fail to raise an eyebrow.

first case: following a federal court's decision to uphold proposition 209, scores of local and national journalists flock to the berkeley campus to find the protesters. local tv stations, fox news, oakland tribune, san francisco chronicle. a tiny extremist group that routinely calls protests that fail to materialize "alerted" the media to a protest after the ruling was handed down. you could count the number of uc berkeley students in this group on your fingers. throw in your toes and you could count the number of protesters that showed up.

but since the media was determined there would be protests at berkeley following the court ruling, they pointed their cameras at (or scribbled into their notepads details on) the maybe 20 demonstrators in front of dwinelle plaza. hundreds of disinterested students passed on their way to and from class. three times as many student government hopefuls campaigning yards away on sproul plaza. at least one dozen students performing or organizing a special hip-hop show in front of sproul hall.

and at one point, members of the press clearly outnumbered the demonstrators.

i'm not saying that students aren't opposed to prop 209. a majority are. but most understand how the court system works. most knew this wouldn't be the final word, that their would be appeals and probably a re-hearing.

protests happen at least once per week at uc berkeley. if you're going to cover one, at least pick a large or medium sized one.

second case: even media outlets themselves have admitted they let their imagination get the best of them on this one. they caught wind of a "whiteness" conference at uc berkeley and conjured up visions of collegiate david dukes waxing academic on the master race -- or of militant african supremists crucifying pale faces as chancellor chang-lin tien cheered on. reporters from the washington post, los angeles times and bay area rags joined the cable news network on campus for at least part of last weekend's three-day conference.

turned out it was the same dry, boring, over-your-head over-informed hyper-hyphenated academic drivel that fills countless other discussions, seminars, forums, discussion panels and colloquiums on campus dozens of times every month. stuff we at the daily cal ignore on a regular basis (although, i must admit, the whiteness event rose *slightly* above the rest in terms of potential and was assigned to a reporter).

the media's outdated conception of berkeley mirrors the nation's. it doesn't matter that we lead the nation with innovations in computer networking. that the largest supercomputer on record is under construction here. that each entering class here is more academically qualified than the previous. that we have top-ranked graduate and undergraduate programs. that our student government (still) manages a $19 million-per-year business, that our student newspaper distributes 23,000 copies each day, more than any other college daily in the state and possibly the nation.

berkeley remains, to the nation, home of the radical crazed beyond the bounds of logic and reason.

the cameras will return, looking for the revolution.