There certainly is some hand-wringing at CNN and in the major media generally about the criticism of CNN. Much of it is coming from Iran. The widely cited Twitter address #CNNfail is based on disgust with that network. CNN is more popular internationally and has more sophisticated content, someone should point out, than does CNN inside the U.S.
To some analysts the rise of #CNNfail is a matter of demand for more coverage. http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/robert/200906/1752/ CNN, they say, is held to higher standards than, say, Fox. That seems a peculiar reading of the Twitter and blog traffic
Try out this interpretation instead: CNN failed the Iranian people and its international audience because it was slow to acknowledge the breadth and depth of popular discontent in Iran. CNN's coverage exhibited this failure. CNN correspondents and anchors reflected the network's diffidence. They acted as if they lacked sympathy for the protesters. Perhaps that was because, at first, at least, they did lack such sympathy. A liberal (small "l") revolution in Iran didn't fit their template, for some reason.
That is why we have seen the phenomenon of #CNNfail. Even young Iranians are media critics now.
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