Sounding Off On CNN

I’ve watched a fair amount of CNN’s coverage of the Iranian protests today. Between the giant CNN ads at the bottom of the screen (BREAKING NEWS!) and the fetishistic fascination with Twitter, iReports and camera shots of computer screens showing videos and photos posted on various websites, I’m left to wonder if the entire network has gone fucking insane.

Are the producers there more interested in showing how they’re getting information – and advertising that they’re hip to the new social-networking tools – than in figuring out what the hell is going on in Iran? Can important reporting escape this self-referential echo chamber anymore?

The Iranian people aren’t protesting because they have access to Twitter, they’re using Twitter (and emails, and phone calls, and word of mouth, and chants, and blogs) to help organize their protests.