It's S.O.P. for the MSM. My wife attended USC during the late 60's and witnessed the 15-20 or so sitting around on the lawn with placards denouncing this or that, most often the war in Viet Nam, but also whatever smoked their shorts at the moment. The MSM would have bold headlines declaring "a huge turnout..." to protest whatever, and the TV news would take camera angles of the 15-20 students from various angles creating an illusion of hundreds. She saw this happen many times.
I was actually more curious as to why Ieatfrijoles thought it would be a low turnout. Not the MSM.