Iran is one of our neighbors , but we are hardly talking about it. We are talking about the Shiney rape case the T20 debacle and the US-push talks our Pm had with Mr 10%.
Indian coverage is almost nada! Most prominent dailys are adding tiny oneliners, not even talking about the rapid changes out there, while express is talking about more protests.
TOI -Iran polls bring women to the fore (most likely picked up from guardians Heather Harvey)
HT doesnt even really cover it
Ibn live – US urged Twitter to keep running during Iran poll
The events and rapid changes in Iran could be historic to say the least.
Never has a candidate said in open television debates,
“Why should we lie to the people and tell them that they have no problems at all“
That being the reaction of Mousavi when Ahmedinajad showed an inflation rate of 15% when it actually was 25%.
Never has a campaign been run by women so effectively and called the Mousavi-Rahnavard presidential race …
It is the first time technology, twitter, blogs, sms etc been used so effectively to campaign .
Never has the Ayatollah Khameni has been forced on the back foot ,since he first declare Ahmedinajad winner even before full counting was over.
Never has been so much open defiance in such a hostile environment!
Read Huffington post
In fact at one point, Mousavi’s supporters were shouting ‘thank you, thank you’ to the soldiers.
One woman went up to the special forces men, who normally are very brutal with Mr Mousavi’s supporters, and said ‘can you protect us from the Basij?’ He said ‘with God’s help’.
It was quite extraordinary because it looked as if the military authorities in Tehran have either taken a decision not to go on supporting the very brutal militia – which is always associated with the presidency here – or individual soldiers have made up their own mind that they’re tired of being associated with the kind of brutality that left seven dead yesterday – buried, by the way secretly by the police – and indeed the seven or eight students who were killed on the university campus 24 hours earlier.
Quite a lot of policeman are beginning to smile towards the demonstrators of Mr Mousavi, who are insisting there must be a new election because Mr Ahmadinejad wasn’t really elected. Quite an extraordinary scene.
6 responses so far ↓
| Balu | // June 17, 2009 at 6:28 pm |
You should read world pages of DNA, Bangalore then. Check out the epaper
Mahendra // June 17, 2009 at 6:48 pm |
Not just Indian media, but many of the leading media outlets in the world have come under fire for downplaying Iranian news.
Twitter has been on fire. Join us on twitter and get the latest scoop. Hashtags like #CNNFail have made even CNN respond to the criticism. There are now posts and articles comparing social media like Twitter vs. MSM (mainstream media)…
Prax // June 18, 2009 at 1:12 am |
but balu,
i did a simple chk of most sites with keywd Iran and it is shocking to see it in a corner somewhere
mahendra,
this was a bit of a hurried post
i fully agree the hot news is on the net in the new relay and networking mediums
twitter, blogging, you tube, email, the list goes on..
even i had posted / commented on the debate u mentioned
huffington post has some wonderful pics and links to live twitter
this reminds me of the time when there was a crises in burma when the monks protested and there was hardly anything in mainstream media,i wonder if there is a diktat for censure by mea/govt?
Priyank // June 18, 2009 at 6:45 pm |
Iran has been significant due to a lot of things. The opposition leader is not a great leader, but its the timing that has made him great. His wife has super credentials and may be one of the top ministers if elected. Whats heartening is that atleast this Muslim country has elections (how many else do?)!
Social media also seems to have hit puberty, after Mumbai terrorist coverage on twitter, this one is perhaps the greatest example of social media being used as a tool to stir a revolution (sort of).
Indians are not concerned about world news, there is no space in our newspapers since we have a big country and there is always something happening. The west doesn’t really care, plus the state blackout means that news stories are very repetitive.
| Balu | // June 19, 2009 at 3:45 am |
Yes it’s a shame the way world desk is handled my most media firms.. unless its Obama or Osama, no one highlights it as much as they should. We are trying to change that a bit =)
Xylene // June 26, 2009 at 7:51 pm |
I read the net to get the news of my choice.
the tv, shows me news of their choice !