Reporting Rumors

Michael Moynihan is tired of twitter-bashing:

[W]hile critics wring their hands about dodgy rumors spreading via social networking sites—which are usually identified as dodgy rumors by those pass them on—few people have engaged in meaningful debate about those relaying information originally "reported" by the dictatorship's media outfits. Case in point: This weekend viewers of CNN (and readers of DailyKos, among others) were told that a bomb exploded at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, killing two worshipers and the bomber. According to whom? Why, Iranian state television, of course!

…Did a suicide bomber attempt to blow up the mausoleum? Probably not. If a bomb did go off, it's hardly Truther territory to suggest an attempt by Ahmadinejad's forces to delegitimize the opposition. And is Twitter the greatest source of misinformation coming from Tehran? Having sifted through a fair number of Twitter feeds from Iran, my vote still goes to either IRNA or PressTV.

We have posted tweets and reports from Iranian state news, urging skepticism on both counts. Even though some tweets turn out to be false, they give a sense of the chaos and uncertainty. And during an uprising, the rumors circulating are part of the story. This unverifiable information is useful, but you have to read it differently than you would the NYT.