Civil Unrest
Today I watched the news unfold on Twitter and not on any US or UK News agency. I watched people post about an election in Iran and the civil unrest that followed shortly after the results were announced.
In the process of watching the timeline of Twitter, I moved to Twittervision to watch a global messaging start focusing from one country – Iran. Twittervision took too long.
I went to #IranElection and to #IranElection09 on Twitter but those timelines refreshed with over 60 new messages every 10 seconds. I needed more information in a timely manner.
I went to Monittor where I was able to monitor 3 hash-topics at the same time. I watched #IranElection, #IranElection09, and the folding of #TehranBureau. I learned that domestic news agencies were forcibly shut down by the military and TehranBureau’s reports became a trickle.
But the news kept coming from several individuals at ground-zero in Tehran and other cities where public civil disobedience was taking place.
I moved over to Twazzup to monitor the latest news.
The interesting thing during all this tragedy is how little the “news” regime has been covering what is going on. I learned on MSNBC that there are some Republican rappers who are a bit conservative. I also learned that the transition to digital cable went really well this weekend from CNN.
I didn’t learn that students in the University of Tehran were barricaded in their dorms while the police randomly brutalized a few of them. I didn’t see any mention of the tanks that moved into Tehran to help keep the peace. I didn’t see any reports about YouTube removing videos from Tehran that were showing the brutality. And I didn’t hear reports from the news agencies about the Iranian government shutting down Internet access and cell phone service to keep what was happening controlled.
I learned how people are fighting to get information out of their country about what is happening. I am seeing live feeds of people posting how to get around government filters to post to Twitter and other sites. I am reading posts listing who to follow that is typing in English for us to get the real news.
I watched as people sent messages to @andersoncooper and other news related media resources. They were pleading for help but more pleading for recognition about what was going on. What is going on, still.
This weekend marked a victory for digital television but it may be the death date of network news. I like how one post on Twitter says it best: “US News Agencies fiddle while Iran burns”. Is anyone watching? Is anyone chatting about it? My Twitter timeline is full of people posting about what they are eating, watching on television, demonstrating at a conference, and my heart is breaking.
I wonder if tomorrow’s news will cover how they failed? Or will this be a quick story before we get the celebrity birthdays and weather?
Is this not news? I guess the 20 year anniversary of the events in Tiananmen Square where the world’s media captured the protests and civil unrest was huge ratings. The events taking place now must seem like a repeat. Why cover this again? The whole world is not watching because Dateline is profiling something else tonight.
