Comments on: '#CNNFail': Twitterverse slams network's Iran absence

The network that became famous by having reporters on the ground as bombs fell on Baghdad in 1991 missed the boat on the Iranian riots, and Twitter users noticed.

[rmva]

Hey! It's the weekend. US news media only work 4 1/2 day weeks. They're saving money.

[franfin]

I can't believe stuff like this happens I always thought CNN was a very serious news broadcaster and wouldn't leave news out you can read another great article about this at http://www.aircheese.com/article/cnnfails-to-report-news

[alflanagan]

I went to cnn.com to check their current coverage, and it was probably the first time in months. Not A Good Sign.

[bobmarleypeople]

I've watch CNN International as my primary TV news source...I didn't know any of these news stories. Oh well, back to BBC News then!

[Phil_Canyon]

Hey stupid, did you read the article? They also said bbc and npr didn't report on this.

[creanium]

Hey Phil_Canyon-

Be careful who you call stupid since you're completely wrong. Read the article again, especially this part:

"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."

Fail

[t8]

Whenever someone calls someone stupid they inevitably end up being the stupid one.
God is having some fun at the expense of the arrogant.

[mbenedict]

Ahmadinejad's highly dubious "win" is very bad news for Obama, who wants to engage Iran regarding nuclear weapons. Suddenly the Iranian government is without credibility. How can Obama now have a "dialog" with Ahmadinejad, giving this dictator legitimacy?

As for CNN, anything that's bad for Obama must not be reported, for as long as possible. It's bad for CNN business and doesn't align with Mr. Turner's political philosophy. When the protests were at full swing in Iran, CNN was busy peddling a story about how health care was destroying small businesses and how Obama's plan would save the day.

But the biggest story that's missing from the Twitterverse is the fact that Iranian elections, at the end of the day, mean nothing. Iran has no democracy. The "Supreme Leader" (Ali Khamenei) pre-approves every candidate for every significant office in Iran, including the presidency and every single member of the parliament.

It's a stacked deck. Whether the winner is Ahmadinejad or Moussavi, both men were approved-by and subservient-to Ali Khamenei and his "Guardian Council". Khamenei controls the military, the Iranian media, all communication facilities, and has the final say over any matters of the parliament (including absolute veto power over any legislative bill.)

In Iran, democracy is an illusion. Choice is an illusion.

[RogParish]

Mr. (Ted) Turner hasn't had any affiliation with CNN for several years, as he sold out to Time-Warner. Thus began the decent of CNN. I don't bother to watch it anymore. If you want good coverage of Middle Eastern topics, watch Al-Jezeera in English. http://english.aljazeera.net/

[cosuna]

@mbenedict: As much as the U.S. hates Ahmadinejad and as much as Bush wanted to engulf Iran using his "Middle East" preemptive attacks, and created huge amount of FUD on Iran, there is still no way of knowing if Ahmadinejad's "nuclear weapons" are as strong and potent as Saddam Hussein's "Weapons of Mass Destruction". (Of course, I'm being sarcastic).

That aside, if Ahmadinejad rigged the elections should have nothing to do with his "evil nuclear plans". He is just another wanna be dictator like Chavez, Kim Jong-il and, yes, George W. Bush (remember the ballot problem in his brother's controlled state Florida).

[wutnot]

Meanwhile, BECAUSE MANY OF US DON'T TURN TO FOX FOR REAL NEWS, or expect much from Fox, barely anyone is commenting on the #FOXFAIL. When CNNFail was trending and no-one was turning against Fox, I turned on the tv and checked them out, assuming they must have been doing something right. They too were covering Miss USA , and had an extended interview with her lasting I don't know how many minutes.

[mbenedict]

The reason for no #FOXFAIL is because Fox is simply carrying the AP newsfeed on Iran. So yesterday for example Fox ran an article about Mousavi's claim of election fraud (since it was on the AP feed), while CNN was pretty much silent on the issue.

[Jack K1]

CNN cut a deal with Saddam Hussein so that it could continue its bland reporting from Iraq.
No doubt CNN has cut the same deal in Iran.

[jarobusa]

Even the Wall Street Journal has been covering the chaos in Iran. No wonder CNN's ratings are falling.

[Kacela]

Probably one of the reasons that CNN was lax on their coverage was that they failed to get their copy of the script on time. Methinks the distortions of "widespread riots" are vastly over-rated; all the other "news" coverage have all shown the same "rioters" and "police" from the same intersection but from different angles. It's called a psyop folks. I wouldn't doubt we (Americans) are amassed at the border paying people to pose as rioters.

[dfevans-1]

are you sure it is Psyops? Or are you really doing psyops with your comments?

OOOhhhhh....just leave it for Crescent News Network to tell us what to think. more psyops.

This sword (psyops) cuts both ways.

[czhang7363]

That's weird...CNN International has been covering the story crazily here (in China). They even interrupt programs every 15 mins with "breaking news" to repeat the exact same information about the protests!

[jarobusa]

Right now Fox News has new video from Tehran. They have been covering this since it began.

[rmva]

Any country that has an official called "The Supreme Leader" doesn't have free elections. The election was a hoax. The Supreme Leader mailed in the results months ago. The people of Iran must now come to grips with that reality and decide for themselves what they are going to do. This will take time. The last thing they need is 'outside interference,' the stalking horse of all tyrants.

[cpopken]

That is what happens when news outlets become too politically involved. They start to censor their stories to not upset one side or the other. All sides need to start reporting NEWS and not trying to slant anything to one side or the other.

[pw1y]

Just erase CNN from you channel list and get rid of the bookmark in your browser. End of (inadequate and biased) story.

[Phil_Canyon]

Amen

[lurkedq]

Most any organization run as a religion is going to self-serve. Look at the Mormons, Scientology or the Catholic Church: Moribund, insular, massively self-protective and non-transparent. Iran is like a giant church to the owners (i.e. their Council of Supreme Commanders) - so of course they're going to rig the election in any way they choose. On the CNN coverage question? It's just humorous. You can get better news from the Daily show or Chelsea Lately (and they only run 4 x 22 minutes per week each).

[rmva]

We're getting into that sticky situation called Two Reliable Sources. It's the difference between news gathering and blogging. News organizations have to find a second, independent source before they can file their reports. Not as lightning quick, but more authoritative.

[SeizeCTRL]

But when you look at the Hudson River plane crash, all the information was coming in from twitter. The first image of the plane came from twitter... it took all the new agencies 10+ minutes to arrive on scene, but people who lived close by were tweeting the details in near real time. Don't underestimate the value of blogging en masse.

People on the scene blogging / tweeting about what they see can be just as valid as any official news source in this day and age. Heck, in some cases, even more valid because it's not haunted by network bias.

[SlimGem]

CNN started going downhill after Ted Turner sold out to Time Warner, an incompetent group of clods if there ever was one. I used to start the day with Headline News and then to CNN for more info, but those days are over. HLN is probably the worst, as it has evolved into a sleazy broadcast tabloid with the likes of Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck. I just wish cable was à la carte so I didn't have to help finance all of this crap.

[wayneepalmer]

Glenn Beck went over to the Fox News pundit pit months ago.

HLN is now "Serial predator / Psycho Spouse Central" pretty much 24/7.

They don't do any real news much after 12pm (gotta wait for Oprah and the rest of the clones to finish).

[dbargen]

CNN not covering news- is anyone surprised? After lord Obama's proclamation that his CAiro speech should foster "progressive" change in the Iranian election, of course CNN isn't going to cover a fail like that. They've got waaaay to much invested in the man to work to his detriment.

Duh.

Funny how so many just aren't buying the hype anymore. Whatever is the second-smallest big cable media outlet to do?

[SlimGem]

@ dbargen,

Thank goodness you have Fox News to give you the facts and truth.

[tclovescricket]

I love how you anti-Obama try and spin every story as showing his all-around evilness and proving there is a conspiracy to make him look good. If anyone benefits from corporate mainstream media NOT covering the fact that not all Iranians are America-hating nutcases who would do anything to destroy us all, it is the neocons. They are the ones who require a "boogeyman" Enemy of America to try and promote their failed worldview that everyone in the world hates America and we must kill anyone who disagrees with us before they destroy us. By covering the story of election protests in Iran, corporate media would actually be helping President Obama's cause by showing there are people wanting to engage with us. So go and try spinning your falsehoods someplace else, where we don't know what you're really up to.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ tclovescricket :"I love how you anti-Obama try and spin every story as showing his all-around evilness"

Obama IS evil. No question about that. His entire adust lufe was spent being mentored by America's biggest demestic terrorist ever, William Ayers, a guy who on the very morning of 9/11, did an interview in the New York times, saying his only regret was that he didn't bomb even more places, and kill even more Americans.

@ tclovescricket:" and proving there is a conspiracy to make him look good"

There IS a conspiray by the retarded mainstream meia to make the Obama empty suite, terrorist love,r look good. You got to be pretty naive if you can't even see that.

[Patcheeetroof]

Kwasiowusu is spot on. The left-wing mainstream media won't ever report this, but there's solid proof that terrorist Ayers visited Hawaii and Hussein Obama back when he was in high school: http://tinyurl.com/2w4apm

Not only did Ayers give an interview on Sept. 10, the day before the attacks, but he also was known to have met secretly several times with the hijackers like Mohammed Muretta. U libtards are gonna be sorry.

[fejerdk]

Why is CNN being criticized for not monitoring voting irregularities in Iran?

They did not care to monitor voting irregularities in the USA?

[jtothef]

"It's odd that CNN would be so late to this story, especially given the criticism it's getting from the Twitterverse, and given how clued in the network is supposed to be to Twitter..."

actually, it's odd that cnn would be so late to this story because they had built their brand expectation of "being there" over the years with a history of images of anchors reporting from balcony's atop well branded hotels near predetermined bombing areas for both gulf wars, so that now a generation expects them be everywhere that news happens. that at least shows that they understand the requirement of being there." not sure what happened to that strategy.

nevertheless, it turns out they're not really a news outlet - just a pr one (like most)

no worries - it's the new socialism/collectivsm - get over news brands - "the people" report the news now