Author: Andrew Sullivan

A reader writes:

I believe you're a bit too bold in your claim of "Massive MSM Fail." You only criticize cable news yet the headline of your post implies a failure of the whole of the mainstream media, which I don't believe is the case. The New York Times featured the story prominently on its home page all day with robust blogging from The Lede. The Washington Post and LA Times both featured the stories prominently on their home pages as well at least for at least part of the day. We need to extricate cable news from the rest of the MSM and understand cable as a beast unto itself.

Your criticism of cable news is justified, however. Their response surprises me, quite frankly. You would think this would be the perfect story for cable to cover: tons of quite captivating footage, constant new developments (wave that breaking news banner proudly), and enough uncertainty to allow for hours of speculation, err, I mean analysis. It's exactly the kind of story CNN is built to cover and can cover quite well if it wants.

Another writes:

You have to wonder with the MSM: what exactly are they doing with all of their famed resources?

Where is all of their amazing technology, their reporters and analysts, their infrastructure? Isn't the point that they alone can cover the truly important stories because of the reach these resources uniquely give them? What a fricken waste! How can they be beat so badly by a bunch of (amateur) bloggers? Where is John King and his famous wall now – and who cares?

One could understand this sort of information and reporting lag happening way back in the 1960s, but not in this day and age. But then, resources isn't really the problem with their coverage is it? Their massive fail is really about their narcissism, provincialism, and arrogance. They are like astronomers who have the world's greatest telescope… pointed in the wrong direction or turned backwards. They're so clueless they don't even know what they should be looking for!  I find the whole thing incredibly depressing.

Another:

I saw that CNN had some coverage Sunday night (around 10:00 EST) with Drew Griffin anchoring, including an Iranian expert and showing a lot of the footage, so they weren't totally out to lunch. They spent a fair amount of time going over the day's events.

Another perspective on that dramatic scene from yesterday involving the police station that caught fire:

The seemingly dead protestor appears to have been hit by that car at the end of the clip. Can any of our Persian-speaking readers make out any details from the men by his side?

While Iran erupts, National Review has many many posts blasting Janet Napolitano for an idiotic interview she gave today and calling for her resignation and yet more posts trying to use the Detroit terror attempt to attack Obama. There is one post about Iran this whole pivotal weekend, and it's by Jonah Goldberg, and it begins with the priceless words:

This should be getting more play.

Conservatism's current priorities: using any terror attack to hurt the president? Check. Watching freedom-fighters risk their lives for regime change in the most critical country for US foreign policy in the Middle East? Zzzzz. Imagine what Reagan would have thought. And weep.

Via EA:

Another clip from yesterday shows what appears to be the same van getting flipped by the crowd:

Details to note: a protestor raises a black helmet, a few protestors hold what appear to be photos of a bloody victim, and a protestor waves a green flag of victory.

Readers keep emailing me to tell me that as far as cable news is concerned, today's events might as well be happening on Mars. I cannot confirm this because when real news happens, the last place I look is the cable news channels. But I cannot say I am surprised. Since this does not have a cheap and easy way to splice into the red-blue fight, they have no idea of how to cover it. One reader writes:

Along with the avalanche of news coming out of Iran (if you know where to look), you wouldn't know by watching the news that there is a conflict that is significantly more than "low intensity" going on in Yemen right now. For instance, did you know that Saudi Arabia has suffered more than five hundred casualties in the last two months fighting a tribal insurgency in Yemen and is launching significant air strikes into Yemen? That's in addition to the strikes launched by the Yemeni Air Force against militants that may or may not have killed the American citizen who was in communication with Nidal Hasan, Anwar al-Awlaki.

And God knows what we are doing directly in Yemen these days.

You wouldn't know any of this if all you watched was CNN, Fox or MSNBC.

You'd think that if the so called war on terror were as life and death as Pete King or Pete Hoekstra would lead us to believe, the press would do a better job covering the titanic events in the Middle East, especially when terrorists are going to this country called Yemen that none of the cable news networks have heard of before for training and logistical support. 

The press is like a cat chasing a laser pointer, pouncing on the illusion in front of them,  pretending that all events occur in an historical vacuum (historical being defined as as far back as the Dawn of Man or as recent as the last news cycle) and that if it doesn't affect a non-uniformed American directly, then it is as good as never happening.

Another:

Who knows what is happening or about to happen in Iran? The Dish can merely provide instant information that history will need to explain some day. Is the Green Revolution doomed? Is it on the verge of success?

Here's what I took from today. In many photographs and videos in June, when the regime first cracked down, many of the people on the streets were wearing face-masks or bandanas to hide their identities for fear of the consequences.

Today, it was the baseej who were wearing the masks and bandanas.

Before you go to bed tonight, take a moment to listen to the voices above.

And know hope.

I’ll be passing the baton to Chris soon for overnight coverage as we wait to see what tomorrow holds. Stay tuned.

Today has been a momentous one in Iran, as expected. The Dish has been live-blogging it since 11 pm Saturday night. To get a sense of the day's events, try scrolling all the way down to this first post and click on forward through the posts. The forward chronology conveys the dynamic, unpredictable and simply jaw-dropping drama of a country on the edge of an abyss.

A reader examines the various photos and videos of this incident and persuasively concludes that they are all of the same event. Now think of what this foretells: a baseej is cornered, switches sides and is carried aloft in the streets triumphantly.

These people are not seeking revenge for the most part. They are seeking to coopt their fellows caught in the apparatus of dictatorial power. And we have evidence of it working once. What if it's happening out of sight?

This astonishing scene – perhaps the most astonishing scene we've yet seen from today's remarkable events – seems to show a bunch of baseej pinned and cornered against a wall by protestors, in some kind of grinding and at this point non-violent impasse.

Here's a translation:

People ask them 'why do you do this to your people?' and the riot guards ask for forgiveness, 'Bebakhshid' they can be heard to say.

'You are Yazid's – the Khalif against whom the Ashura uprising took place -forces', the woman shouts at them. One of the protesters then reassures them that they will not be beaten up, all they have to do is say Khamenei is a bastard. The woman can then be heard saying 'All you can do is kill your people is it?' and again they plead saying 'Please We are not killers'.

A reader adds:

What he leaves out is that the young woman who is heard towards the end yells "Are you only brave on your motorbike, you piece of shit?!" before apparently kicking him as a man tells her to stop.