Iran Election: The Fallout. Shit+Fan

projectmayhem

"Now that everyone is a broadcaster, revolutions will always be televised" Andrew Sullivan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8D7SYJVzqg&feature=player_embedded



Old thread which has tons of info, discussion
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=91829

Speakers OP Pre-Election:

Iran's speaker calls for massive turnout in presidential election

TEHRAN, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani urged on Wednesday for a massive turnout in the country's upcoming presidential election which will be a sign of might, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"A massive public participation would increase Iran's might in the eyes of other world countries," Larijani was quoted as saying.

"All the countries have an eye on Iran's election and (people's)presence at the ballot boxes will slash the material and nonmaterial costs of the Islamic Republic in the future," Larijanisaid in Iran's central province of Qom.

On Tuesday, Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also called for massive turnout in the presidential election.

"The enemy is concerned about massive turnout of the people in election," Rafsanjani said.

Regardless of which political camp to achieve victory, the Iranian high ranking officials have always reiterated their encouraging rhetoric for the maximum participation of people in the country's diverse elections.

The 10th presidential election of Iran is slated for June 12. Two reformist candidates -- former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, and two conservatives -- incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei, will compete for the new presidency.

Something is Happening in Iran

Andrew Sullivan wrote:

I don't know whether you have been reading the various press accounts of the election campaign in Iran. I know that the candidates' list is fixed, but I can also see democratic spirit when it is bang in front of me. There appears to be a genuine fight for votes; and the images from the Mousavi rallies look more like Obama rallies than assemblies in a totalitarian state. Notice how young these people look, and how unafraid.

Does anyone doubt that if this kid of peaceful campaigning were happening in Iraq, it would be regarded as a sign of a nascent democracy? And, for what it's worth, Ahmadinejad increasingly looks desperate - the bribing of Red Iran doesn't seem as powerful right now as the rallying of Blue Iran. Check out the photos of a May Mousavi rally headlined by Khatami on this Iranian photo-blog, TehranLive.org. The blogger's description of the event:



"As a symbolic gesture, the Saturday’s pro-Mousavi rally was held on the anniversary of Khatami’s first election victory in 1997 on May 23 — the day dubbed as the day of reform movement in the Islamic republic. Iran’s former reformist president Mohammad Khatami on Saturday openly threw his weight behind ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is contesting the June 12 presidential election. Speaking to thousands of young supporters at a rally in Tehran’s indoor Azadi (Freedom) sports stadium, Khatami said: 'Stand up and do not miss this rare opportunity.'"

Now check out this video of a public clash between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi supporters in the streets of Tehran. It's vivid, electrifying stuff - not a sign of a brutal totalitarian regime. I know we have to be cautious and I know who holds the military power. But we should not be blind to change when it emerges. Ahmadinejad has discredited himself in the eyes of many Iranians. They are looking for change they can believe in. This is the target audience for Obama this Thursday. He needs to reach out to the democratic forces in that country and remind them that America is their ally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8dAEnXJGwg&feature=player_embedded

Economy Ahmadinejad's big election test

TEHRAN, June 2 (Reuters) - In a way, Iranian restaurateur Mohsen Misaqi notes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fulfilled the promise to put oil wealth on the table of every family that swept him to power four years ago.

"There is more money," said the middle-aged businessman in downtown Tehran. "But with much less buying power. One cannot but feel economic hardship as a result of higher prices for almost everything."

A slump in the West checked oil's surge last year, but rising consumer prices -- as well as a lack of jobs -- are still the loudest complaint in Tehran as the Islamic Republic heads to a presidential election where Ahmadinejad faces a challenge from reformers. People like housewife Behjat Soltani agree the economy is Ahmadinejad's weakest point in the run-up to the June 12 poll:

"Our family's economic situation has deteriorated considerably compared with four years ago," said the 41-year-old, wearing a black headscarf as she bought food and other groceries in a small Tehran store.

But if such bread-and-butter issues work against the incumbent among some in the capital, Ahmadinejad may be stronger electorally in the countryside. The rural poor helped vote him in last time, have benefited from his largesse and like his down-to-earth image.

"He still has an enduring popularity, although probably not as high as a few years back, among the urban and rural masses," said Karabekir Akkoyunlu of risk consultancy AKE Ltd in London.

When the state coffers were swelled by an unprecedented inflow of petrodollars, Ahmadinejad's government went on a spending spree after his surprise 2005 election victory, lavishing credit and cash during frequent provincial trips to help the needy.

During a typical visit to the northwestern province of Qazvin in May, his government announced 160 local development initiatives from roads and water supply to sports facilities.

The politicians seeking to deny him a second term accuse him of "charity" economics and of trying to lure voters with handouts, such as much-publicised distribution of "surplus production" potatoes in different locations earlier this year.

Former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, seen as Ahmadinejad's main moderate challenger, says this offends people's dignity without addressing the root causes of poverty.


"STILL GROWING"

Among voters in the capital, home to more than 15 percent of Iran's rapidly urbanising population of more than 70 million, economic frustrations tend to overshadow Iran's nuclear dispute with the West, even though the conservative president's rivals say his defiance hurts the economy by isolating the country.

Inflation may have come down from last year's 30 percent peak, reaching an annual 18 percent in March, but many Iranians say they still struggle to afford food and other basic items.

Government critics also argue that free-spending policies while oil prices were soaring left the world's fifth-largest crude exporter vulnerable to the tumble that started in 2008.

Despite a sharp recovery this year, crude remains below $75 a barrel, the level at which the International Monetary Fund last year said Iran would show current account deficits.

Ahmadinejad, who vowed during the 2005 campaign to share out Iran's oil riches more fairly, blames double-digit inflation on global food and energy prices which peaked last year, and has replaced a central banker who tried to rein in monetary policy.

He says the oil-dependent economy, with a Gross Domestic Product of around $360-370 billion according to IMF projections last year, is still showing annual growth of 5-6 percent and doing much better than those of Iran's Western foes.

"There is negative growth everywhere you look ... but in Iran the growth rate is positive," he said in May. Last year, he said Iran could manage for three years on its foreign exchange reserves even if the oil price "reaches zero."

A Western diplomat said the global economic downturn may have come later to Iran, but it faces growing problems as a result of an oil price fall of nearly 60 percent over the last year, which is hitting manufacturing and construction.

"It is tough out there ... if they manage to grow it will be pretty good going," the Tehran-based diplomat said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.


"NO MORE ENEMIES"

While many wage-earners have been squeezed by inflation, which stood at around 11 percent when Ahmadinejad took office, loose fiscal policies have also created winners.

Ahmadinejad's vows to help those in need, including pensioners, still draw support as does his refusal to bow to Western pressure in the row over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Retired government employee Esmaeel Malekpour has seen his pension more than double under Ahmadinejad and no longer needs to drive a taxi, using his own car, to make ends meet.

"This government did not just talk about helping us but did something for us through concrete measures," said the grey-haired 74-year-old. He did not vote for Ahmadinejad in 2005 but said he will now.

Mousavi favoured a strong government role when he steered Iran's economy through the 1980-88 war with Iraq, but now advocates liberalisation of the state-dominated system. He says he would focus on creating jobs if elected president.

Official unemployment stands at more than 10 percent, but an Iranian development economist said this figure did not include many people who had some work but wanted more, including some students and housewives.

About 800,000 people enter the labour market each year, competing for only half that number of new jobs, he said.

"Mousavi's supporters argue that his track record of successfully managing the war economy proves he could do a much better job on economic issues than Ahmadinejad," wrote political science professor Mehrzad Boroujerdi in Foreign Policy magazine.

Mousavi has yet to unveil detailed economic remedies. Any president would find it hard to curb spending or sell state firms with likely job losses.

Risk consultant Akkoyunlu said the fall in oil revenue -- 85 percent of government income -- was "swiftly emptying the state's coffers". Industrial investment and foreign reserves were also shrinking.

Iran's refusal to halt nuclear work has drawn U.N. and U.S. sanctions: "In this environment, Tehran is increasingly feeling the brunt of tightening economic sanctions, which is limiting growth and access to international loan markets," he said.

Cliff Kupchan of Eurasia risk consultancy agreed Iran faced significant economic problems but added years of growth gave it large reserves that could serve as "some political cushion".

The government says Iran can defy even harsher steps, given foreign assets that rose 20 percent year-on-year to $85 billion in January, according to central bank data cited by local media.

But oil officials acknowledge Iran needs more foreign capital to meet its annual investment needs of up to $30 billion in energy. Oil firms such as Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSA - news - people ) and Total have either delayed or scrapped large projects in Iran.

Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, another reformist presidential hopeful, advocate better ties with the West.

Misaqi, the Tehran restaurant owner, agrees.

"We cannot afford to make any more enemies in our relations with the outside world through our harsh comments," he said.

Iranian Candidate Taps Student Woes

TABRIZ, Iran — Rassool Zarehee, 22, shouted at the top of his lungs as he and several other students raced around a basketball court at the University of Tabriz recently, encouraging more than 2,000 students to chant with them. “Yasharsoon Moussavi!” he screamed in the local Turkish Azeri dialect. “Long Live Moussavi!”

Mr. Zarehee is a staunch supporter of Mir Hussein Moussavi, a moderate politician who is the strongest challenger to Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the June 12 election.

Mr. Zarehee’s enthusiasm for his candidate is so strong that he waited several hours behind closed gates with other students before the angry crowd finally pushed its way inside.

Wearing a green headband, a green cloak and green ribbons on his wrists — the trademark color for Mr. Moussavi’s supporters — Mr. Zarehee warmed up the crowd before Mr. Moussavi spoke. He remained on the court for more than two hours, along with some 400 other students, chanting and singing in support of Mr. Moussavi.

“This is all my hope, and I will do my share so that he gets elected,” he said after the event. “We have been like prisoners at university for the past four years.”

Mr. Moussavi, a former prime minister, was born in Khameneh, a small town near this northwestern city in East Azerbaijan Province. He was speaking here on Tuesday as part of a two-day tour to win the votes of Turkish speakers, nearly one-third of Iran’s eligible voters.

In his speech, Mr. Moussavi denounced the pressure put on student activists through expulsions and jail terms during Mr. Ahmadinejad’s term and called the president’s policies “old and backward.”

He said the major goal of the 1979 revolution was freedom.

“We wanted to become free and be progressive in the world, not faced with backward ideas and notions today,” he said.

The rally was an unusual event in this northwestern city, where political and social restrictions are enforced more fiercely than in the capital, Tehran.

Young men and women sang together, and even moved their bodies rhythmically to the music. The young men rushed from their side of the segregated auditorium to the women’s side, to take cellphone pictures of girls dancing. The women had green headbands or ribbons in their hair, and had pushed back the black hoods they are required to wear as far back as they could go.

Many in the audience said they were frustrated by four years of economic mismanagement and social and political suppression under Mr. Ahmadinejad. They said they hoped that Mr. Moussavi would reverse those policies.

Nassim, 19, a radiology student, who withheld her family name for fear of retribution, said she had to resign as a member of her university’s Islamic Association, the only pro-reform political association for student activists, because of pressure from university hard-liners.

“I could not even do social or cultural work,” she said. “They accused us of doing political work no matter what we did.”

She said that the president had “a different interpretation of justice and freedom.”

Mr. Zarehee, a computer science student at Payam-e-Noor, another university in Tabriz, said that at his school hard-line guards monitored the campus to ensure that people did not wear un-Islamic clothes, a reference to what could be deemed fashionable or Western.

“Boys and girls are not allowed to speak,” he said. “They have even installed cameras in the classrooms to make sure they watch us all the time. Instead of investing the money into facilities for students, like a restaurant, which we do not have, they use the money against us.”

He said that he had worked at a small casting factory to pay for his university fees but that he was laid off recently because the factory had not received any orders in months — a result of the faltering economy.

Not all students at the rally were supporters of Mr. Moussavi.

Some were separatists with banners that said “federalism,” a reference to Turkish Azeri separatist sentiment, or opponents of Mr. Moussavi who held banners that accused him of being involved in the execution of thousands of prisoners in 1988 when he was prime minister.

At one point they turned their backs to Mr. Moussavi as a sign of protest.

Another student, Mohammad, 23, a mechanical engineering major, said he had just come to the rally to have a good time. He said he would vote, but only to get his birth certificate stamped.

“I need the stamp in case I need to get a government job later,” he said. “But I do not believe in any of the candidates. I believe in a secular democracy.”

My OP Post-Election:

#iranelection

From Wikipedia:

The 2009 Iranian presidential election was held on 12 June 2009 in Iran,[1] the tenth presidential election to be held in the country.[2] The President of Iran is the highest official elected by direct popular vote, but does not control foreign policy or the armed forces. Candidates have to be vetted by the Guardian Council, a twelve member body consisting of six clerics (selected by Iran's Supreme Leader), and six lawyers (proposed by the head of Iran's judicial system and voted in by the Parliament).[3]

With two-thirds of the votes counted, the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the election with 66% of the votes cast, [4] and that Mir-Hossein Mousavi had received 33% of the votes cast.[5][6] The European Union said it was "concerned about alleged irregularities" during the vote,[7] and some analysts and journalists from United States and United Kingdom based media expressed doubts about the authenticity of the results.[8][9][10][11]

Mousavi issued a statement saying, "I'm warning that I won't surrender to this charade," and he urged his backers to fight the decision as well as to avoid committing acts of violence.[9] Protests, in favour of Mousavi and against the alleged fraud, broke out in Tehran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, labeling his victory as a "divine assessment".[12] Mousavi lodged an official appeal against the result to the Guardian Council on 14 June.[13] On 15 June, Khamenei announced there would be an investigation into vote-rigging claims.[14]

Fight his supporters have:

Clashes broke out between police and groups protesting the election results from early morning on Saturday onward. Initially, the protests were largely peaceful. However, as time passed, they became increasingly violent. Some protesters began to get violent after the results of the election were announced. Angry crowds in Tehran broke into shops, tore down signs and smashed windows.[77] The worst civil unrest in Iran in almost a decade (i.e. since the Iran student protests, July 1999) took place as protesters set fire to tires outside the Interior Ministry building and others formed a human chain of around 300 people to close off a major Tehran street.
Protests against the election results on the streets of Tehran.

Al Jazeera English has described the situation as the "biggest unrest since the 1979 revolution." It also reported that protests seemed spontaneous without any formal organization.[92] Two hundred people protested outside Iran's embassy in London on 13 June.[93] Ynet has stated that "tens of thousands" protested on 13 June.[94] Demonstrators are chanting phrases such as "Down with the dictator", "Death to the dictator", and "Give us our votes back".[9][94] Mousavi has urged for calm and asked that his supporters refrain from acts of violence.[9]

Ynet reported on 14 June that two people had died in the rioting so far.[94] That day, protests had been organized in front of the Iranian embassies in Paris,[95] Berlin,[96] London,[97] Rome,[98] Sydney[citation needed] and The Hague.[99] In response to the reformist protests, tens of thousands of people rallied in Tehran on 14 June to support the victory of Ahmadinejad.[13]

On June 15th, Mousavi[100] rallied with anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of his supporters in Tehran, despite being warned by state officials that any such rally would be illegal. [101][102] The rally, reported by the BBC to be the largest in the Islamic Republic of Iran's 30-year history, was Mousavi's first public appearance after the election. Shots were reported to have been fired at the rally, where Mousavi spoke to his supporters saying "The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person."

Most recent news is of gunfire breaking out at the rally this evening in Iran. At least 1 person has been killed with several more injured.

There have been 5 main sources for news involving Iran and sadly the list does not include CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS but it includes Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, The Daily Dish, and The Huffington Post. To see for yourself, head over to Twitter.com and make a search for #iranelection . Here are some links/pics/videos of the events from the weekend/today:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/ Live Blogging with video/pics/tweets
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html Huffington Post reporters live blog of the election fallout

Some photos nsfw as well as the videos. Depictions of violence.

http://twitpic.com/7h3r5/full Amazing Panorama from the rally

Here is a link to a huge amount of photos throughout the weekend:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bb-2P9umh0

Some of CNN's brief coverage. To CNN's defense, it seems like they are trying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGw8OmujQI&feature=related

8min of protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuDzlj6Jk8o&feature=related

The shootings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIrX6UiXReE&feature=player_embedded

Live persian bbc video feed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/tv/2009/01/000000_ptv_live_s.shtml

Also there has been an effort to get everyone to wear Green today as well as changed twitter avatars to green in support of the protesters.

CNN just reported that the people in the march took up 8 miles of road.

Discuss.

postinonthenets

Re: people being uninformed.

Thats why @aplusk's response has me so annoyed. The man has the largest reach of anyone on Twitter and his tweets have been totally asinine.

MKR

ElJeffe's oppressive regime cannot stand.

Because it's really tired.

Like his jokes.

Buttcleft

CNN is showing tweets from our good friend Change_For_Iran.

Aldo

Thanks for 'splainin' Elki.

cyphr

From the last page of the previous thread, a panoramic pic worth sharing.

Barcardi

big report on kpbs right now

talking to someone that is in iran + talking about twitter reports and just acknowledging their importance

Darkchampion3d

Buttcleft wrote: »

CNN is showing tweets from our good friend Change_For_Iran.

Betcha whoever he is, he didn't plan on being an internationally recognized name due to twitter.

Aldo

Darkchampion3d wrote: »

Buttcleft wrote: »

CNN is showing tweets from our good friend Change_For_Iran.

Betcha whoever he is, he didn't plan on being an internationally recognized name due to twitter.

I think that is why he isn't using his real name...

projectmayhem

cyphr wrote: »

From the last page of the previous thread, a panoramic pic worth sharing.

Added to the OP. That is epic.

Reckless

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

BladeX

postinonthenets wrote: »

Re: people being uninformed.

Thats why @aplusk's response has me so annoyed. The man has the largest reach of anyone on Twitter and his tweets have been totally asinine.

Speaking of uninformed, today at work I've been starting off conversations with "Man they are PISSED in Iran" hoping to spark discussion. Instead almost everyone has gone "What about?" *face slam off desk*

sanstodo

Barcardi wrote: »

big report on kpbs right now

talking to someone that is in iran + talking about twitter reports and just acknowledging their importance

I am happy twitter is being used for something worthwhile. A couple months ago, I tried to explain to an Israeli consul that there was hope for Iran's future and you could see it on twitter and student blogs. She blew me off and basically told me that if such things existed, she would like to see them do something worthwhile.

I wonder what she thinks about this.......

projectmayhem

Reckless wrote: »

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

World news imo, has changed forever thanks to this weekend/this week.

sanstodo

Reckless wrote: »

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

Hopefully, it will be a wake-up call to all of the shitty cable news channels that they need to get their act together. Their coverage to this point has been embarrassing.

caradrayan

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

Yes, because hundreds and thousands of us know more about what's going on there than reporters for CNN. they will adapt or become irrelevant.

edit: to add quote

Aldo

BladeX wrote: »

postinonthenets wrote: »

Re: people being uninformed.

Thats why @aplusk's response has me so annoyed. The man has the largest reach of anyone on Twitter and his tweets have been totally asinine.

Speaking of uninformed, today at work I've been starting off conversations with "Man they are PISSED in Iran" hoping to spark discussion. Instead almost everyone has gone "What about?" *face slam off desk*

Silver lining: they at least ask what's up.

projectmayhem

I want to point out that as much as I would like to/have blamed CNN for their lack of coverage we dont know whats its like to be there with a camera crew and a reporter badge. It has to be incredibly hard to get news out of the country right now if that news is anything more than a few photos/text. I still think CNN could do better, but I want to at least acknowledge how hard it must be for the actual reporters there right now.

Fencingsax

Well, that is a lot of people.

galenblade

Apparently Obama's going to talk about Iran tonight at 5. Probably when he takes questions after meeting with Berlusconi.

autono-wally, erotibot300

caradrayan wrote: »

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

Yes, because hundreds and thousands of us know more about what's going on there than reporters for CNN. they will adapt or become irrelevant.

edit: to add quote

or stay irrelevant, you mean

Hedgethorn

projectmayhem wrote:

CNN just reported that the people in the march took up 8 miles of road.

How is that possible?

projectmayhem

Live persian bbc video feed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/tv/2009/01/000000_ptv_live_s.shtml

Barcardi

kpbs is covering this over phone and have had 2 people on now, and they have been more in depth than anything i have read yet

dont know if this is a direct connection but
http://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/live/radio.html?popup=true&interactive=true

i love kpbs

Sheep

Yeah. I at least got my friends and relatives to pay some semblance of attention, and highlighted the possibilities that these people winning would create.

Anyone paying attention to traditional media probably just thinks that "Amawhatever won reelection and now those savage Iranians are burning shit". American media is such crap.

I had to explain it to my GF's mom at lunch.

I just told her that the people who hate American and Israel lost, started beating people, and tried to hang onto power.

syndalis

Reckless wrote: »

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

possibly.

Would be better than the last one I could think of, when CNN decided to stop covering the news in favor of keeping the camera on the white bronco OJ was driving.

Lawndart

New thread!

Hopefully new-ish Iranian govermnent!

In the meantime, reposting two other websites following Twitters from and related to Iran:

http://iran.twazzup.com/ is basically #iranelection with in-country and notable commentator tweets separated out, plus auto-refresh.

http://friendfeed.com/iran-primary-sources is (supposedly) a feed that only covers tweets coming from inside Iran. Primarily English with some Farsi thrown in for that authentic flavor.

BladeX

Aldo wrote: »

BladeX wrote: »

postinonthenets wrote: »

Re: people being uninformed.

Thats why @aplusk's response has me so annoyed. The man has the largest reach of anyone on Twitter and his tweets have been totally asinine.

Speaking of uninformed, today at work I've been starting off conversations with "Man they are PISSED in Iran" hoping to spark discussion. Instead almost everyone has gone "What about?" *face slam off desk*

Silver lining: they at least ask what's up.

Yeah, ask what's going on, so I do a brief synopsis so as not to overload them with info, show a few of the more moving pictures and if they seem interested Iw as going to offer some sites where they can read more info if they feel like.

So far the response has been: "Oh. *goes back to discussing inane bullshit like Kanye West*."

galenblade

projectmayhem wrote: »

I want to point out that as much as I would like to/have blamed CNN for their lack of coverage we dont know whats its like to be there with a camera crew and a reporter badge. It has to be incredibly hard to get news out of the country right now if that news is anything more than a few photos/text. I still think CNN could do better, but I want to at least acknowledge how hard it must be for the actual reporters there right now.

Christiane Amanpour has been there all through this filing reports.

Link

Darkchampion3d

I'm hoping the daily show sheds some light on the topic tonight. I know quite a few people who get most of their knowledge of what's up in the world from there, for better or worse (usually better imo. The show may be satirical in nature but at least he doesn't fill it with vapid talking heads with incorrect information).

jkylefulton

galenblade wrote: »

Apparently Obama's going to talk about Iran tonight at 5. Probably when he takes questions after meeting with Berlusconi.

It's nice to have a President that you can actually trust to not actively fuck something like this up. Can you imagine McCain/Palin dealing with this?

Smurph

projectmayhem wrote: »

Reckless wrote: »

Does anybody else think this event is going to be a moment we will remember as a turning point for how the field of journalism works?

World news imo, has changed forever thanks to this weekend/this week.

The MSM will find some tweets after the fact that ended up being bullshit and use them to defend themselves, saying they wouldn't have broadcast stuff like that.

Reckless

projectmayhem wrote: »

I want to point out that as much as I would like to/have blamed CNN for their lack of coverage we dont know whats its like to be there with a camera crew and a reporter badge. It has to be incredibly hard to get news out of the country right now if that news is anything more than a few photos/text. I still think CNN could do better, but I want to at least acknowledge how hard it must be for the actual reporters there right now.

My theory is that CNN should embrace micro-journalism. They've been using Twitter, but not to its full potential and it's mostly been pretty terrible what they've done with it. I believe they should begin to hire reporters armed with small cameras and small mobile equipment so they don't have to worry about lugging a massive amount of equipment about. I'm not saying let's drop the camera crews altogether, but adding "micro-journalists" to the J-field would be an interesting way to do things.

Additionally, not only has the embedded coverage been lacking, but the anchor commentary has been abhorrent. Most of the talking heads I've seen so far obviously have very little idea what they're talking about. Zakaria's GPS and some BBC coverage has been the exception.

MKR

Hedgethorn wrote: »

projectmayhem wrote:

CNN just reported that the people in the march took up 8 miles of road.

How is that possible?

Imagine if the whole of New York City got riled up over something.

Buttcleft

jkylefulton wrote: »

galenblade wrote: »

Apparently Obama's going to talk about Iran tonight at 5. Probably when he takes questions after meeting with Berlusconi.

It's nice to have a President that you can actually trust to not actively fuck something like this up. Can you imagine McCain/Palin dealing with this?

Can you imagine Bush dealing with this?

Klyka

Buttcleft wrote: »

jkylefulton wrote: »

galenblade wrote: »

Apparently Obama's going to talk about Iran tonight at 5. Probably when he takes questions after meeting with Berlusconi.

It's nice to have a President that you can actually trust to not actively fuck something like this up. Can you imagine McCain/Palin dealing with this?

Can you imagine Bush dealing with this?

"Mission Accomplished." ?

The Lord of Hats

Excuse me for my relative ignorance, but what could we expect to see happen in Iran if the protests are succesful, and Ahmadinejad ends up ousted?

Emanon

My brother's wife is Iranian and her Mom and two younger sisters just went back to Iran to visit family. I think they're crazy for doing so but apparently they love to go back whenever there is an election. Anyways, they can't stand the current government and is one, among many, of the reasons they moved to the USA.

geckahn

The Lord of Hats wrote: »

Excuse me for my relative ignorance, but what could we expect to see happen in Iran if the protests are succesful, and Ahmadinejad ends up ousted?

I really dont think this is answerable. It largely depends on how much of the establishment goes down with him.

sanstodo

The Lord of Hats wrote: »

Excuse me for my relative ignorance, but what could we expect to see happen in Iran if the protests are succesful, and Ahmadinejad ends up ousted?

I highly doubt that will happen. Which pains me to admit. But if the protests are successful.......then we're in uncharted territory and I doubt anyone will be able to predict those events.

Reckless

The Lord of Hats wrote: »

Excuse me for my relative ignorance, but what could we expect to see happen in Iran if the protests are succesful, and Ahmadinejad ends up ousted?

The Iranian executive does have a fair amount of power. We'd see a change in dialogue from Tehran, making it easier to open up relations with the Iranian government.