CNN Fiddled While Tehran Burned

Twitter has already become a go-to place for breaking news, but the micro-blogging site assumed the role of media watchdog over the weekend, reports the New York Times. As riots protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory began to heat up in Tehran—and CNN aired a Larry King repeat about American Chopper rather than images of bloody students—tweets labeled #CNNFail began to fly.

CNN wasn’t the only cable news network noted for its scant coverage, but as the network famous for wall-to-wall coverage of Middle East conflicts, it received the brunt of online criticism. “Why aren’t you covering this with everything you’ve got?” tweeted one Atlanta man. Critics were particularly puzzled as to why the Twitter-savvy network didn’t respond to the online chatter with increased coverage.