CNN fails, Twitter picks up the slack #iranelection #cnnfail

June 14, 2009
By Billy Dennis

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From CNet:

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 sentiment that the election had been rigged, a sentiment that was even echoed, to some extent, by the U.S. government Saturday.

“The Obama administration is determined to press on with efforts to engage the Iranian government,” The New York Times cited senior officials as having said Saturday, “despite misgivings about irregularities in the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Yet even as word of the urban strife, seemingly led by those posting to Twitter, spread next around the world on news networks like the BBC, NPR and the Times, CNN remained mostly mute. Even when the network’s Internet site finally posted a story late Saturday, the network’s first “story highlight” was, “Ahmadinejad plans rally after winning second presidential term.”

Increasingly, Twitter has become the go-to source for breaking news about any kind of notable event, be it an earthquake, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, or post-election riots in Tehran. Yet many Twitter users found CNN’s lack of attention to what could end up being one of the biggest stories in years appalling.

Ain’t that the truth.

No, Twitter didn’t have any correspondents in Theran. But it did have users all around the world who used the service to spread news and pictures around the world. They used the hashtag #iranelection to make it easy for users to find and then spread the information.

When people laugh at the idea that Twitter is a tool for journalists, remember how Twitter covered these events while CNN didn’t.

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2 Responses to “ CNN fails, Twitter picks up the slack #iranelection #cnnfail ”

  1. C. J. Summers on June 14, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Also, when choosing an organization on which to rely for world news, remember how the BBC, NPR and the Times covered these events while CNN didn’t.

  2. bowler on June 14, 2009 at 11:14 pm

    CNN’s not that bad… they cater to their audience’s demands, isn’t that what they’re supposed to do for the most part?