#iranelection.

Over the weekend as total chaos broke out in Iran one wouldn't have known anything about it if they weren't on the tubes. As E.D Kain writes,

if I wasn’t online, an avid blogger and reader of blogs, and if I didn’t frequent the New York Times, I wouldn’t know a damn thing about the phenomenon in Iran. It would feel like just any other story from the “crazy Middle East.” I wouldn’t have seen images of the streets of green-clad protestors. I wouldn’t have seen the beatings or the fires or read the twitter feeds or the first hand accounts. I wouldn’t have seen the youtube videos. And lest it be forgotten, the news most people receive if they receive any at all is from their televisions.

This utter and complete failure of the MSM did not escape those of us connected as we literally watched the horrors and chaos coming from Iran right before our eyes.

Twitter users were posting “#CNNfail” on thousands of tweets Saturday night saying that their coverage of important news like the Iranian elections were downplayed by the cable network.
Here are some of those tweets:

clickmomukhamo: OMG! Major developments in Iran yet CNN isn’t breaking into Larry King who’s interviewing some bikers! #cnnfail

lifeonqueen: CNN is screwing the pooch on this one - top story on web is Six Flags bankruptcy not Iran. Way to miss history CNN #CNNfail

geoffeighinger: RT @Elektracutie They should quit the news and just do travel brochures. #cnnfail

ivanlasso: RT @dabloguiman: COVER IRAN NOW!!!! @CNN @CNNbrk @CNNWORLD #iranelection #CNNFAIL pls RT

Many American Twitter users praised British and other international news outlets for covering the Iranian election aftermath of riots and civil unrest. The “#cnnfail” tag was the third most tweeted topic on the microblogging network Saturday night. The “#iremember” tag and “#Iranelections” tags were first and second respectively.

Which has been leading some to ask - “Is Iran the end of the MSM?” The answer is probably no right now - but as Kain notes:

We are witnessing two revolutions here – one, the “green revolution” in Iran which may or may not be a success, and the other the technology and news information revolution. We are witnessing the unwitting suicide and slow death of the news media as we know it, as they cave to ratings and apathy rather than getting out there and covering a real story, as they aid and abbet the numbing and dumbing down of the American people.

Well put. Oh and don't forget your hashtags.