This is tragic, we have CNN trying to justify their coverage. I feel that Clay Shirky hit the nail on the head-
'people who are hungry for info on events of global significance are used to instinctively switching on CNN. But they are realizng that that reflex doesn't serve them very well anymore, and that can't be good for CNN.'
this Push model is crappy way of linking desire. Pull systems are much better and something the integration of social media, web technologies are doing.
He didn't answer the accusation that they missed covering the actual fallout from the election, not the election itself.
BroadcastAssassin
· 5 months ago
I like Rick Sanchez, but his rebuttal is off the mark. The criticism wasn't whether CNN covered the election, it was whether CNN made a story out of the civilian turmoil that followed. CNN's coverage consisted of the results and the victory speech, but it was hours after the unrest was a hot topic on Twitter that CNN turned it's attention to the reaction, the aftermath, the destruction and (eventually) death that the common people were experiencing in the streets of Tehran.
Everything RS said was true, but he totally (and most likely intentionally) avoided the actual subject of #CNNFail in his rebuttal, so... CNNFail. Wish I could believe that he just didn't "get" what it was that people were upset about, but he's too smart for that. More likely his bosses put him up with a carefully crafted message.
Mike Serven
· 5 months ago
CNN was put in a position of having to respond. More important than the response I think this is clearly a shift in how CNN and other (un)popular news outlets are going to be held to a much higher standard and in a way forced into covering less of their agenda and more of what is important.
Jason Anton
· 5 months ago
Their counter works for me. What else did people want?
jef
· 5 months ago
Rick, did you watch Aljazeera during the weekend? Don't you think that's the reason why people keep talking about #CNNFail?
techsupport
· 5 months ago
CNN International, good job of covering the events in Iran.
Yelwrose
· 5 months ago
CNN is a joke.
Amanda Parker
· 5 months ago
Sanchez and CNN seem incredibly defensive! Amanpour is great but Sanchez is incredibly full of himself -- I do not think it was covered enough I think it should have been the main story throughout the weekend-- short of North Korea and NUKES it has been the main story. Example -- when there was the hotel takeover in Mumbai -- it was nonstop day and night coverage--not so with Iran and Israel's reaction etc. etc.
jojozep73
· 5 months ago
I live in Australia & I don't have pay TV so I don't watch CNN at all. After reading comments on Twitter & watching the You tube video I have come to the opinion that CNN comes back with some interesting counter points.
Ugh, I couldn't watch the whole thing. I felt like he was talking down to me the whole to me with "Our Media" "Social Media" garbage. Do your presumed job and cover some news, don't try to lecture the people who powned you how 'main stream media' and 'Social Media' are getting on so nicely together. Bleh
Mike
· 5 months ago
#cnnfail.
Mike
· 5 months ago
#CNNFAIL again for emphasis
Michael Durwin
· 5 months ago
I had CNN on in the other room while following the latest Tweets. CNN's coverage was spotty at best. I watched all day today as well as they began using reports from Twitter and Facebook. If CNN's coverage was so good, then why did they have to resort to using content from the same social networks they claim were no better. You can't have it both ways guys. I understand your reporters faced danger (their job I thought) and were band from covering, but couldn't they have used the same camera phones and SMS that Iranians on the street did?
The most important take away from this, actually mentioned by someone on CNN: social networks enable freedom. Freedom of speech and expression. Networks just cannot compete with real people telling real stories from the middle of a possible revolution. Networks are too large, political, bulky, and rooted to be able to be as responsive as people want. It takes hours to report a plane landing in the Hudson from any network, it took someone on the scene seconds to post an eye witness report with a picture.
Dean Higginbotham
· 5 months ago
Go read The Fountainhead. One possible explanation as to why this is happening.
Sudha Jamthe
· 5 months ago
Passionate conversation @RickShanchez, @anncurry and audience at the #140conf twitter conf in NY today. http://bit.ly/AmgqX
ErsatzMoe
· 5 months ago
The problem wasn't the amount of coverage. The problem was with not covering important demonstrations and violence.
Eli
· 5 months ago
No it was obvious that CNN avoided the usual "ON IT" coverage. I am calling bullshit!
RealityCheck
· 5 months ago
You are joking right, Rick Sanchez is going to lecture anyone about anything. This is the same drunk guy that ran over and killed a human being after a football game, then left the scene of the accident. He should be in JAIL, not on TV. Besides all of that, he is one of the worst, least informed and ignorent anchors in the history of TV news.
AcutelyObtuse
· 5 months ago
OH MY GOODNESS?!? THE NEWS FAILING US?!? GATEKEEPERS DECIDING WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR US?!
On that same token, it just goes to show the lightweight nature of something like twitter, not necessarily gauge the news seeking ability of people on twitter....I am sure there are lots of stroies that slide by until CNN makes a deal then they regain traction on twitter/social media.
Ausi1
· 5 months ago
Lazy reporting is becoming more prevalent these days as main stream media are losing the race with social media to deliver news. Cost cutting methods off gather news via Twitter its seems has become so important to the Main stream as the have discovered that Social Media can deliver news far more efficiently.
The thing the they fail at is they still don't understand the shifting tide of media.
Fight on like a drowning man without a life buoy.
Allen Resha
· 5 months ago
CNN, as with all Mainstream Left-Wing Media outlets, did as they do. It provided the take that it wanted you to see. CNN as well known by its news coverage, picks what it wants you the viewer to see and how it wants it to be portrayed. Now do not get me wrong, I am a News Junkie, I watch all the channels to get what I call "rounded take" on what is really happening. Sadly to say though more times than not CNN doesn't cover the news with an unbiased take. With this story I feel that the other news stations, and this is to include Left Wing, did a much better job and CNN lacked in coverage.
bradleyf81
· 5 months ago
What this shows me is the power of social media and blogging. "Mainstream media" is scared of the potential repercussions from getting bad publicity on social media sites.
I've always thought CNN sucked and that point was driven home to me the first time I saw news channels outside of the US. Well, except for ChannelNewsAsia, which is even worse than CNN.
Maria Lavis
· 5 months ago
I (@marialavis) was among the people on Twitter who commented on #CNNFAIL here: http://tinyurl.com/lqw72z which received several RTs because people related.
Two issues I had:
1. Coverage on CNN's @cnnbrk on Twitter is paltry, not just with Iran election but in general.
You'd think breaking news internationally only happened a couple of times a day by that feed. It's unprofessional for such a large news organization to have SUCH a crappy breaking news feed as their representation on Twitter.
Maybe cnn DID cover the events in Iran here and there, but they were not covering them on their supposedly "official" social media "breaking news" feed, @cnnbrk on Twitter. Why even have a news feed on twitter that you call "breaking news" when you update it so little? It's embarrassing - if you are NOT going to do it right, then take it off if it is going to be pathetic and not actually aggregate all the news you're supposedly breaking as a news organization.
2. Coverage on CNN was not the full story.
It was not comprehensive and representational of the extent and intensity of what was actually going on in Iran even though the information WAS easily available (even to reg folk like me) about the unfolding drama. It didn't take me long to make the conneciton between events in Tehran and Tianamen Sq. It didn't take me long to see that this was not just about the election. With all their journalistic history, why did CNN give it such surficial coverage? That is not the kind of news I, as an adult wanting something other than the latest Paris Hilton scandal or Hollywood hitch, want to see.
If *I*, a measly regular person, simply following the story via Twitter for a few hours, could pick up on the significance of the story, then why couldn't CNN with all their money and resources? It leaves me to wonder whether CNN even knew what was going on? Were they doing their job? How come I could get this info, but they could not? And, if they were doing their job, and they did have the info, why were they NOT reporting the actual extent of events, and only giving it partial coverage?
I followed the story on Twitter for MANY hours, getting sources of information from many places (including other reputable news agencies like ABC/BBC), and following up on other ppl complaining of lack of comparative coverage on CNN compated to what was happenign, before I finally tweeted about my frustration with the lack of coverage by CNN in general (all types of their media outlets) about the extent of the situation here: http://tinyurl.com/nt5kja
No one is perfect, people and organizations make mistakes, but unfortuneately this isn't the first time I've been very unimpressed with CNN. In general I watch CBC, ABC, BBC, or blogs, and avoid CNN as a result. I don't even follow @CNNbrk, but I checked up on their coverage because I saw other's on Twitter complaining. When I investigated, I found their complaints completely reasonable. So yes, CNNFail. I think they shoudl have just owned up. This broadcast was for ignorant people, not people who know better.
Jay Deragon
· 5 months ago
The fact that CNN felt the need to defend itself from comments created throughout the social media space is a statement in itself.
We the people are now capable of holding "the media", as CNN calls itself, accountable. You can't help but sense the arrogance in the response from CNN as if to say "CNN knows more and reports more than you do". This is representative of traditional media talking heads whom seem to think a large # of viewers represents power and influence. To that I would say "check your stats, your viewers are leaving because they want to engage in the conversation rather than have you spin it to us.
Twitter held off on updates so that the story in Iran could still flow without interruption 24/7. The Iran situation comes at a time when the world is now more engaged than ever before and the subsequent influence goes way beyond political or media spin.
Sanchez’s response is an attempt to stir attention to CNN. The irony is they are getting attention but it may be the wrong kind of attention.
What say you?
traeblain
· 5 months ago
I have to agree, the most interesting part is that "we the people" now have some power to hold CNN accountable for what they feel is news.
But Rick Sanchez was amazingly smarmy in this report and was speaking to his audience in a manner of "we've been doing this for years, back off!" attitude. This response should be included in the #CNNfail meme and everyone should include something like #RickSanchezFail as well.
Who are they to talk down to me?
Jay Deragon
· 5 months ago
The fact that CNN felt the need to defend itself from comments created throughout the social media space is a statement in itself.
We the people are now capable of holding "the media", as CNN calls itself, accountable. You can't help but sense the arrogance in the response from CNN as if to say "CNN knows more and reports more than you do". This is representative of traditional media talking heads whom seem to think a large # of viewers represents power and influence. To that I would say "check your stats, your viewers are leaving because they want to engage in the conversation rather than have you spin it to us.
Twitter held off on updates so that the story in Iran could still flow without interruption 24/7. The Iran situation comes at a time when the world is now more engaged than ever before and the subsequent influence goes way beyond political or media spin.
Sanchez’s response is an attempt to stir attention to CNN. The irony is they are getting attention but it may be the wrong kind of attention.
What say you?
RevRico
· 5 months ago
My response is: who cares? The power was Twitter was unleashed with the events in Tehran, unfiltered, a virtual tsunami of news and video and first hand accounts that had be spellbound all day. With that, who the hell even needs the pompous Rick Sanchez anymore. By the time the major TV nets got around to covering the damn thing, I already knew more than they presented. Amazing...
led display
· 5 months ago
see Iran news everywhere without CNN.
Jaan Lutter
· 5 months ago
blah, blah, He talked about the "winner" not much about the people. media is media!
markfinch
· 5 months ago
CNN downplayed the protests. As I mentioned on my article yesterday at http://markfinch.info/44 to quote CNN “the largest protest in Iran since the 1979 revolution, was largely peaceful”. The graphic and brutal images I covered and the many I didn't clearly show that it wasn't as "peaceful" as CNN would lead us to believe.
Michelle Linton
· 5 months ago
The #CNNFail was that CNN & other mainstream media outlets are still deciding what news to report and how much to report it. Mainsteam media is infamous for taking one press conference or one statement from a politician and creating days of coverage complete with special graphics & "experts." If you have reporter, cameramen & sound people on the ground in the zone struggling to provide news coverage- why not report that? CNN's response via Rick Sanchez comes accross as defensive and bitter ("I told you so" attitude). This is a prime opportunity for media outlets to look at what is trending on social media and use that to create their schedule for news coverage. After all, if it trending, it is important to millions of people are using social media. Sorry CNN- still a #CNNFail
JJ
· 5 months ago
its quite obvious the mainstream media is blase about iran. they do not see it as FREEDOM SEEKING MOVEMENT. they are kinda just like the president, not really caring or interested. and yet here you have a great HUMAN CAUSE: PEOPLE WANT FREEDOM. why are we not excited? why is our president blowing it off?
Francesca
· 5 months ago
Over the years CNN has trended toward pop culture content versus objective, hard hitting journalism on global events. I'm not surprised that Iran was not covered, just disappointed. The network is still fine for news consumption, but it is no longer my first source to turn to.
Here's another CNN fail from yesterday regarding CNN's apology for interuppting their Jon & Kate Plus 8 special due to a quick update on Iran. http://bit.ly/pbpbD
I'm all for pop culture news, but not over global human interest pieces of historic proportions. Sometimes one can reinvent themselves into obscurity...
Francesca
· 5 months ago
Over the years CNN has trended toward pop culture content versus objective, hard hitting journalism on global events. I'm not surprised that Iran was not covered, just disappointed. The network is still fine for news consumption, but it is no longer my first source to turn to.
Here's another CNN fail from yesterday regarding CNN's apology for interrupting their Jon & Kate Plus 8 special due to a quick update on Iran. http://bit.ly/pbpbD
I'm all for pop culture news, but not over global human interest pieces of historic proportions. Sometimes one can reinvent themselves into obscurity...
Apphouse50
· 5 months ago
Bollocks, CNN, bollocks. Pure and simple. We understand you are operating over there under some pretty heavy restriction but your coverage, while better than MSNBC and FauxNews, has still been EpicFail. When things have changed significantly overnight there, why do I want yesterday's news from you?
Anti-Social- List
· 5 months ago
CNN SUCKS!!!!
Colin Christianson
· 5 months ago
Considering that other nations are saying the West is hyping up the Iran elections shows that they were covered. Only so much time and so many things the main stream news can get to. When I tuned into CNN, MSNBC and FOX I saw that CNN was spending the most time on it. Although I feel that when I follow social media I do get a larger more specific perspective than the general one presented on main stream media.
Could it be that since main stream media is dependent on appealing to the masses that it will inherently not do as good and thorough of a job as social media?
michaeldaehn
· 5 months ago
Me thinks he doth protest too much. You can tell he feels a little uncomfortable with the medium and the terminology. Thumbs up for trying.
Mitch Swanson
· 4 months ago
Ya all totally dropped the ball with this Iran thing! What was that video suppose to convince me of ? That you are only half wits not complete idiots? Go watch twitter and learn something about news coverage! And this is me beiing nice about how I really feel. What was all that with mj anyway? You should be ashamed of yourselves, that's all I can say. Men, women, children were snatched up by the screte police, tortured and murdered for their political beliefs. NOW THAT WAS THE STORY!!!!!!!!!!
Mitch Swanson
· 4 months ago
Even with all the arrests, torture and murder by government secret police in Iran over political views, that could never happen here in The United States of America, right? Oh yea, we have that darn Patriot Act thing huh? Why did CNN not talk about the real events unfolding in Iran? Nah, I'm just being paranoid, er right?
All Comments
'people who are hungry for info on events of global significance are used to instinctively switching on CNN. But they are realizng that that reflex doesn't serve them very well anymore, and that can't be good for CNN.'
this Push model is crappy way of linking desire. Pull systems are much better and something the integration of social media, web technologies are doing.
more on the Clay Shirky TED Blog here: http://blog.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_clay_sh.php...
Everything RS said was true, but he totally (and most likely intentionally) avoided the actual subject of #CNNFail in his rebuttal, so... CNNFail. Wish I could believe that he just didn't "get" what it was that people were upset about, but he's too smart for that. More likely his bosses put him up with a carefully crafted message.
WE are in control now.
http://CNNfail.com
I understand your reporters faced danger (their job I thought) and were band from covering, but couldn't they have used the same camera phones and SMS that Iranians on the street did?
The most important take away from this, actually mentioned by someone on CNN: social networks enable freedom. Freedom of speech and expression. Networks just cannot compete with real people telling real stories from the middle of a possible revolution. Networks are too large, political, bulky, and rooted to be able to be as responsive as people want. It takes hours to report a plane landing in the Hudson from any network, it took someone on the scene seconds to post an eye witness report with a picture.
On that same token, it just goes to show the lightweight nature of something like twitter, not necessarily gauge the news seeking ability of people on twitter....I am sure there are lots of stroies that slide by until CNN makes a deal then they regain traction on twitter/social media.
The thing the they fail at is they still don't understand the shifting tide of media.
Fight on like a drowning man without a life buoy.
I've always thought CNN sucked and that point was driven home to me the first time I saw news channels outside of the US. Well, except for ChannelNewsAsia, which is even worse than CNN.
Two issues I had:
1. Coverage on CNN's @cnnbrk on Twitter is paltry, not just with Iran election but in general.
You'd think breaking news internationally only happened a couple of times a day by that feed. It's unprofessional for such a large news organization to have SUCH a crappy breaking news feed as their representation on Twitter.
Maybe cnn DID cover the events in Iran here and there, but they were not covering them on their supposedly "official" social media "breaking news" feed, @cnnbrk on Twitter. Why even have a news feed on twitter that you call "breaking news" when you update it so little? It's embarrassing - if you are NOT going to do it right, then take it off if it is going to be pathetic and not actually aggregate all the news you're supposedly breaking as a news organization.
2. Coverage on CNN was not the full story.
It was not comprehensive and representational of the extent and intensity of what was actually going on in Iran even though the information WAS easily available (even to reg folk like me) about the unfolding drama. It didn't take me long to make the conneciton between events in Tehran and Tianamen Sq. It didn't take me long to see that this was not just about the election. With all their journalistic history, why did CNN give it such surficial coverage? That is not the kind of news I, as an adult wanting something other than the latest Paris Hilton scandal or Hollywood hitch, want to see.
If *I*, a measly regular person, simply following the story via Twitter for a few hours, could pick up on the significance of the story, then why couldn't CNN with all their money and resources? It leaves me to wonder whether CNN even knew what was going on? Were they doing their job? How come I could get this info, but they could not? And, if they were doing their job, and they did have the info, why were they NOT reporting the actual extent of events, and only giving it partial coverage?
I followed the story on Twitter for MANY hours, getting sources of information from many places (including other reputable news agencies like ABC/BBC), and following up on other ppl complaining of lack of comparative coverage on CNN compated to what was happenign, before I finally tweeted about my frustration with the lack of coverage by CNN in general (all types of their media outlets) about the extent of the situation here: http://tinyurl.com/nt5kja
No one is perfect, people and organizations make mistakes, but unfortuneately this isn't the first time I've been very unimpressed with CNN. In general I watch CBC, ABC, BBC, or blogs, and avoid CNN as a result. I don't even follow @CNNbrk, but I checked up on their coverage because I saw other's on Twitter complaining. When I investigated, I found their complaints completely reasonable. So yes, CNNFail. I think they shoudl have just owned up. This broadcast was for ignorant people, not people who know better.
We the people are now capable of holding "the media", as CNN calls itself, accountable. You can't help but sense the arrogance in the response from CNN as if to say "CNN knows more and reports more than you do". This is representative of traditional media talking heads whom seem to think a large # of viewers represents power and influence. To that I would say "check your stats, your viewers are leaving because they want to engage in the conversation rather than have you spin it to us.
Twitter held off on updates so that the story in Iran could still flow without interruption 24/7. The Iran situation comes at a time when the world is now more engaged than ever before and the subsequent influence goes way beyond political or media spin.
Sanchez’s response is an attempt to stir attention to CNN. The irony is they are getting attention but it may be the wrong kind of attention.
What say you?
But Rick Sanchez was amazingly smarmy in this report and was speaking to his audience in a manner of "we've been doing this for years, back off!" attitude. This response should be included in the #CNNfail meme and everyone should include something like #RickSanchezFail as well.
Who are they to talk down to me?
We the people are now capable of holding "the media", as CNN calls itself, accountable. You can't help but sense the arrogance in the response from CNN as if to say "CNN knows more and reports more than you do". This is representative of traditional media talking heads whom seem to think a large # of viewers represents power and influence. To that I would say "check your stats, your viewers are leaving because they want to engage in the conversation rather than have you spin it to us.
Twitter held off on updates so that the story in Iran could still flow without interruption 24/7. The Iran situation comes at a time when the world is now more engaged than ever before and the subsequent influence goes way beyond political or media spin.
Sanchez’s response is an attempt to stir attention to CNN. The irony is they are getting attention but it may be the wrong kind of attention.
What say you?
and yet here you have a great HUMAN CAUSE: PEOPLE WANT FREEDOM. why are we not excited? why is our president blowing it off?
Here's another CNN fail from yesterday regarding CNN's apology for interuppting their Jon & Kate Plus 8 special due to a quick update on Iran. http://bit.ly/pbpbD
I'm all for pop culture news, but not over global human interest pieces of historic proportions. Sometimes one can reinvent themselves into obscurity...
Here's another CNN fail from yesterday regarding CNN's apology for interrupting their Jon & Kate Plus 8 special due to a quick update on Iran. http://bit.ly/pbpbD
I'm all for pop culture news, but not over global human interest pieces of historic proportions. Sometimes one can reinvent themselves into obscurity...
Could it be that since main stream media is dependent on appealing to the masses that it will inherently not do as good and thorough of a job as social media?