Iran Election, Iran Corruption, Iran Questions

I watched a video here, about Ahmadinejad's win over Mir Hossein Mousavi, and then read the article. I also read this one and can't help but think we're not getting the full story for some reason. Here's the analysis and what I mean:

Why is not the main focus of these articles on the actual, factual discrepancies Mousavi has in claiming that this election was a "charade?"

Why is Mousavi the only one slighted? The BBC article says: "Four candidates contested the election, with Mohsen Razai and Mehdi Karroubi only registering about 1% of the vote each."

So, what about Razai and Karroubi? Do they feel the election was tainted? Why are these two presidential candidates not questioned on this and given a voice; one or two sentences even?

Instead, it's about people protesting. "Thousands" according to the BBC article. And only in Tehran. Is no one protesting anywhere else? And exactly how many is "thousands?" Do they not have an accurate count? Why or why not? And who's doing the counting? In my opinion, these articles seem biased on the side of the protesters, something that does not happen when people protest in this country, but more on that later.

Ahmadinejad, in the aforementioned article, says that the foreign media has been helping to rile people up. Why is that angle not explored? Why not analyze the media coverage over this event and really investigate what he's saying? I mean, you can only prove him wrong, right? So, why isn't this done?

Next, according to the BBC's Iranian affairs analyst, the "margin of the win was so wide [for Mousavi] that it made a lot of people suspicious." OK, what does that mean? The margin of the win? What margin, how, and set forth by who? I don't know why these questions, many of which could be answered in a sentence or two, are missing from a major news organization's coverage of an election so interesting as this one.

The analyst goes on to say that, "Millions of people, especially the young, voted for change through the ballot box and by peaceful means and now there is shock and disappointment."

Again, what does this mean? How many millions? Why is this "news" article so vague? Where is the author getting this data from? Many millions in this country voted for change through the ballot box and by peaceful means in 2000 and 2004 and were similarly shocked and disappointed.

I just don't see any evidence how, exactly, the protesters have a legitimate grievance here. And I'm not saying there isn't one, I'm saying the media has not reported on what that might be. We have an official result: 64% for Ahmadinejad versus the 34% for Mr Mousavi, but that's it.


Fast forward two days. It's now Monday the 15th of June and here is the lead article from MSNBC.com on the situation in Iran. Again, no mention of what is actually corrupt in the election. All they mention is "voting irregularities." We had those here in 2000 and 2004 also. Why would you make no mention of what these voting irregularities are? Isn't the main thrust of this entire situation?

Maybe there is a media slant. Hardly any of the First World countries like Ahmadinejad. Continual focus on rioting and beating and one-liners and protest messages (which could be covered in another blog - so I'm not ignoring them as insignificant - it's just not the focus of the article here) could be used to let viewers think that those protesting have a legitimate cause they are fighting for. First and Third World countries can use propaganda. The BBC and CNN are no exceptions.

Of course the censorship is of grave concern and lends no credence to Ahmadinejad, but the censorship is not the cause of the protests - it's a reaction to it. So why not say what that cause is?

What are the voting irregularities? What is the evidence of fraud?

** Just called NBC news and was told that they would research the answer to these two questions and get back to me. I'll keep you posted.


One last thing: Check out this story on how there never was a significant ideological difference between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi.