Scotland and 'the coalition for justice not war' march, Glasgow, 15 February 2003

This article describes the audio recording of an actual event, 'the Coalition for justice not war' march which was held in Glasgow on 15 February 2003 as part of a world-wide demonstration against the possibility of war in Iraq . The authors describe how they attempted to record a cross-section of marchers' views of the political situation and their reasons for participating. In recording an event as it happened were the authors involved in oral history or in journalism? The authors argue the case for the former, basing their case in the distinction between oral history as an activity which seeks to record and interpret what is happening through direct involvement in contrast with journalism's preference for detachment and immediacy.