The 2009 Iranian Presidential Election in the Coverage of CNN and Al-Jazeera English Websites

Mohammed el-Nawawy

Irans presidential election, which took place on June 12, 2009, resulting in the disputed victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the violent demonstra- tions that ensued, attracted the attention of Western and Middle Eastern media. The news media, particularly the Internet, webcams, blogs, and Twit- ter, played a critical role in the coverage of this election and its aftermath. Thanks to the Internet, dedicated news watchers knew what they were miss- ing in this election (Twitter 2009). This chapter utilizes a qualitative textual analysis of the stories that appeared on the CNN and Al-Jazeera English websites during the month following Irans election to investigate how it and the postelection protests were covered on both websites. BACKGROUND OF THE ELECTION AND ITS AFTERMATH The official results of Irans election that took place on June 12, 2009, showed that the incumbent candidate Ahmadinejad, who has been Irans president since 2005, was reelected with 62.6 percent of the vote. Ahmadinejad was the first non-cleric to be elected president since 1981 when he won a run-off vote against former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in election in June 2005. Much of [Ahmadinejads] support comes from poorer and more religious sections of Irans rapidly growing population particularly outside Tehran (Whos Who 2009). Three other candidates ran against Ahmadinejad in the latest election: Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejads main challenger, who received 33.8 percent of the vote; Mohsen Rezai, who received 1.7 per- cent; and Mehdi Karroubi, who received 0.9 percent.