Twitter-Addled CNN Refers to Tweets as a 'Source'
Everyone's coverage of the uprising in Iran has been Twitter-centric, for obvious reasons. But CNN, in an apparent attempt to look like they have real, non-Twitter newsgathering capabilities, has been regurgitating Twitter posts and attributing them to unnamed "sources."
Michael van Poppel of BNO News caught CNN grabbing the posts of a user called PersianKiwi—one of the more prominent of the Iranian Twitterers—and inserting them into the mouths of sources in this online piece from last week.
Here's PersianKiwi posting on the morning of June 24:
they were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals #Iranelection 6:53 AM Jun 24th from web
I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war - #Iranelection 6:35 AM Jun 24th from web
And here's CNN's online coverage of street protests in Iran, posted later the same day:
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Security forces wielding clubs and firing weapons beat back hundreds of would-be demonstrators who had flocked to a square in the capital on Wednesday to continue protests against an election they have denounced as fraudulent, witnesses told CNN.
"They were waiting for us," one source said. "They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap."
"I see many people with broken arms, legs, heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war," the source said.
A CNN spokesman couldn't immediately explain how PersianKiwi became a CNN "source."
UPDATE: CNN spokesman Nigel Pritchard says it was a mistake: "Multiple sources contributed to our coverage in this particular report, many directly to CNN. The material was corroborated using various methods, including other first-hand accounts from the scene. Regrettably, two of these specific quotes should have been attributed as coming from an individual on Twitter, as we have done on numerous other occasions."
