Why Isn't The US Media Giving Much Coverage To The Iranian Election/Coup?

[BlooInBloo]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

"9:11 PM ET -- Are U.S. networks covering Iran enough? Several emailers have noted a lack of Iran coverage on U.S. television networks. Now, I have seen some excellent reporting -- specifically the MSNBC coverage anchored by Alex Witt (with Ali Arouzi and Richard Engel in Iran) and CNN's coverage by Fredricka Whitfield (with Christian Amanour in Iran).

But in terms of the quantity of reporting, U.S. networks do seem to be far behind other international networks. Using a transcript database search on TVEyes.com, here are the approximate number of references to "Iran" on various networks today:

Headline News: at least 32 mentions
MSNBC: at least 48 mentions
Fox News: at least 73 mentions
CNN: at least 91 mentions
CTV (Canada): at least 124 mentions
Sky News (UK): at least 149 mentions
BBC News (UK): at least 177 mentions"


Yes, I know it's a self-answering question. It was just the delivery mechanism I chose to present these numbers.

[ErinBerin84]

1. Not a fan of Lockup:RAW?

that's The Place for Politics, for ya. But yes, most of the media coverage has been pretty bad.

[marmar]

2. Well at least they're mentioning it more than they did the 2000 coup d'etat ... in the U.S.

n/t

[valerief]

5. Bingo! nt

[mmonk]

3. American based news no longer has many foreign correspondents

around the world like it used to. It's one of the things that has changed since 2000 and the new USA.

[MarjorieG]

4. In many ways 2004 was worse, a completely bogus popular vote, so not to give sentiment to recourse.

Silence from media, the public not wanting another contested election, and results difficult to prove. It was country wide with phantom votes in red states, unbelievable and big Bush spurts late night in urban areas.

No way to steal from Obama this time, but let's wait.

[BlooInBloo]

6. Sully notices similarly, and concludes that this is one reason why the media is going outta business

I have to agree. We are being kept incredibly well informed about all of this. NO THANKS AT ALL TO THE MEDIA.

Somebody PLEASE remind me why we NEED the media sooooo badly?


http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/

"The Blogosphere's Moment

A reader writes:
So all day long, I'm glued to your blog, Juan Cole's blog, Josh Marshall's blog, and a couple others reading as much as I can about the (stolen) Iranian election.

I turned on CNN, and they were going three rounds about some idiot Republican operative in South Carolina who called Michelle Obama an ape. Nothing on Iran.

MSNBC was in the middle of one of its hour-long crime documentaries.

FNC was showing a pre-taped piece on Bernie Madoff.

And I realize that it's the weekend and they usually take the weekend off, but over at NRO, the only thing they've managed to post about Iran today is a link to Daniel Pipes' piece cheering on an Ahmadinejad victory because otherwise his dream of a massive Israeli air assault would be dashed. That's it...a staff of 10+ regular bloggers, and all they can come up with in the midst of an Iranian revolution is a single piece cheering for the status quo?

Thank God that you, Juan, and Josh are on the story.


There's a reason the MSM is in trouble. "

[Bumblebee]

7. Because they are ignorant and have no clue. It's much simpler to discuss

Letterman versus Palin. No expertise is required there.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. There are these things called newspapers that you...

actually have to pay for and hold and turn pages and read... There's also this thing called radio-- been around long enough you might have heard of it by now. Between newspapers and listening to NPR, I've heard a lot about Iran and their phony election. I even know about that women's movement over there, and how the third candidate is the real "liberal." And, btw, about the university at Qum.

Cable news is not even close to "MSM" when all three networks combined can't get half of SpongeBob's ratings.

(But, hey, I'm constantly told that NPR and the NY Times lie to me, so what would I know?)

[BlooInBloo]

10. Yah - the Mousavi photostream I saw on NPR was TEH AWESOMZ!!!

And all the youtubes of the riots I watched in the paper I held in my hands was ftw!

:rofl:

[TreasonousBastard]

12. Yeah, yeah...if it ain't on YouTube, it just didn't happen.

[chill_wind]

9. NYT's Blog (The Lede): 7:20 pm- "We're signing off for the evening."

"Update | 7:20 p.m. We’re signing off for the evening. Please check the home page of NYTimes.com for any developments that may take place overnight. The New York Times Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen has filed a video report from Tehran, discussing the election and Saturday’s protests."

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/

Packing it in. Punching out on the ole timeclock. Our paid work here is done.

The pajama bloggers will have all our stories ready for us tomorrow morning.

[Horse with no Name]

11. I think because they don't want the citizens of this country

to get any "ideas" of what other people in the world are willing to sacrifice to make sure their votes are counted?