Saturday afternoon. Conservative/libertarian columnist, comic, blogger and self-proclaimed geek Robert A. George tweets and posts on Facebook: "Cripes! Iran is falling apart and even CNN Int'l is showing a packaged piece on a water-skiing squirrel!! #tcot #iranelection."
This is the world we live in. BBC had some real breaking news from Iran, which reportedly caused the Ahmadinejad regime to kick some of its reporters out of the country, block its satellite feeds, and otherwise hamper its coverage. But most of the real news was coming directly from the cell phones and laptops of Iranian citizens who found ways to circumvent Ahmadinejad's attempts to block access to unprocessed, "unofficial" information, especially on the Internet and sites like YouTube.
On Twitter, where #CNNFail and #Iranelection were top topics, tweets relayed options for bypassing government censorship:
PLEASE RT Functioning Iran proxies 218.128.112.18:8080 218.206.94.132:808 218.253.65.99:808 219.50.16.70:8080 #iranelection
good Web proxy!: http://orcade.ncad.fr/poxy-0.5b2/ #iranelection
Even as Twitter became the best source for rapid-fire news developments from the front lines of the riots in Tehran, a growing number of users of the microblogging service were incredulous at the near total lack of coverage of the story on CNN, a network that cut its teeth with on-the-spot reporting from the Middle East.
For most of Saturday, CNN.com had no stories about the massive protests on behalf of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was reported by the Iranian government to have lost to the sitting president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The widespread street clashes--nearly unheard of in the tightly controlled Iran--reflected popular belief that the election had been rigged, a sentiment that was even echoed, to some extent, by the U.S. government Saturday.
On Facebook and Twitter, many Iranians -- and supporters worldwide -- changed their profile pictures to the image above in solidarity. In an international gesture of protest, people were encouraged to wear green -- color of candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's opposition party, which claims to have actually won the election -- on Monday.
UPDATES: Marc Armbinder offers advice on how we should always approach news, whether from newspapers, radio, network television, websites, blogs or Twitter: "Follow The Developments In Iran Like A CIA Analyst."
Armbinder again: "The Revolution Will Be Twittered":
Why hasn't Mousavi been arrested or killed? Iran's regime is thuggish, but I don't think it wants to risk further alienating Europe or China. And I surmise that because the Iranian government knows that the opposition -- maybe we should call them the silent majority? -- has ways of communicating and organizing outside of their control. Mousavi would become an instant martyr. Twitter, Facebook, blogs -- and the mainstream media -- are all colluding to keep hope alive for the Iranian people.
Tweeted (and Re-Tweeted) news flashes and "official news" from Fars News late early Monday (PST) below. Compare and contrast:
#iranelections @ Twitter.com:
"Hacked" Fars News Agency (English):
Parallels to US media coverage, 2000 - present, are chilling.
On Twitter, where #CNNFail and #Iraqelection
Shouldn't that be Iranelection?
Iraq's next fake election isn't scheduled for another few months at least.
JE: Ooops. Thanks. My fingers have become far too accustomed to typing that "q." Fixed now.
Finally, a worthwhile use for Twitter emerges! Never thought I'd see the day.
Ambinder's article makes a lot of good points about reliability. With the great flood of information that the Internet offers, it's important to remember that we don't have any editors or experienced who (should!) check their sources or make sure their facts are straight. That said, it's great to see people finding ways to make their voices heard. There was a documentary at Sundance called Burma VJ about the struggle of underground citizen journalists. Good stuff.
Also, I feel rather ashamed to admit that while you were writing this, I was writing Last Year at Marienbad fart jokes.
Is anyone surprised by this? By the way, Fox News has been all over this story.
JE: Here's a Fox viewer's report from yesterday, courtesy of Andrew Sullivan's blog (which has really been all over this story):
http://budurl.com/6k6b
In an interview with CNBC today, Obama said "... ultimately the question the leadership in Iran has to answer is their own credibility in the eyes of the Iranian people...":
http://budurl.com/bxs8
Since I'm not sure of the exact comments that your reference is referring to, I'm going to guess that Brit Hume's comments came from his brief commentary during the first half of Special Report. The first half of Special Report is usually strictly hard news, except for Brit Hume's infrequent editorial comments that were added after he retired from hosting the show. This part of the show is always introduced as being commentary.
However, opinions on Fox News of Obama's response to the Iranian demostrations has all over the place. For example, on Bill O'Reilly's show, Michael Scheuer seem to think Obama gave a near perfect response while O'Reilly's only real critism was the Obama statement seemed to not show enough support of the populace of Iran and condemnation of the crackdown on protests and communication.
How deeply affected you are by this travesty is extremely touching, Jim. It's great to know that the spirit of revolution isn't dead in our world. While us American's will tolerate pretty much any injustice so long as we have gas in our tanks and food in our belly, the people of Iran are showing the world the power of sheer outrage.
They wouldn't be shutting down communication if they weren't threatened. The people are on to something, and the leaders of the country know it. They don't want to have leaders that keep them in the dark ages anymore. They want to press forward, and it's a sham that the Government of this country isn't standing behind them. They deserve to know that we're with them, if not physically then at least in spirit.
"The second thing that I think's important to recognize is that the easiest way for reactionary forces inside Iran to crush reformers is to say it's the US that is encouraging those reformers."
Which, surprise surprise, is already happening. I can imagine it now: little-known CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt the Third scurrying about Tehran, throwing bushels of U.S. money at crowds to incite these mass gatherings and protests. (Or maybe not.)
As for the coverage of this story in mainstream media, I have to admit -- as much as I've proclaimed my hatred for Rick Sanchez and his mad Twitter capers, he's done a decent job both using social networking to tell this story, and covering the role social networking is playing in the story itself. Is it ideal to rely solely on Tweets, FaceBook updates, and dubious cell phone videos? No, but if the only other option is nothing, then so be it. What we are seeing in Iran today is nothing less than citizen journalism finally proving its true worth.