CNN going "big" on coverage Extensive 10min overview just now
http://enduringamerica.com/2010/02/11/the-latest-from-iran-12-february-today-is-22-bahman/
0610 GMT: The Green site
Rah-e-Sabz is reporting
extensive deployment of security forces, including detachments in Amirabad Street and around the state television complex. (EA correspondents note that this probably should be Karegar rather than Amirabad Street.) 0600 GMT: Press TV and Fars are now putting out state media line: “People across Iran have begun celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution”. Live shots of people standing about in Azadi Square. The studio anchor is on a “looped” script, repeating over and over the basics of 22 Bahman and “tens of millions” of Iranians coming out on this day to support the regime.
CNN International, in contrast to previous protest days, is already going big on its coverage. It’s now running an extensive overview with interviewees like Mehdi Khalaji and Behzad Yaghmaian.
0550 GMT: Well, Press TV English hasn’t quite gone to special coverage. It’s showing “In Prison My Whole Life”. Thought at first this might be a subversive reference to post-election detentions, but on second glance, looks like it is a study of US injustice.
0545 GMT: Reports, which we are checking, of several hundred gathered in Tabriz. People are on the move in Tehran, where it is 9:15 a.m.
0540 GMT: Activists reports that
“Death to Dictator” is already being chanted by people gathered in the north and northwest of Azadi Square, the official gathering point for the pro-Government rally and the unofficial destination of the opposition marches.. Basij militia have gathered at bus stops at the northwest corner of Azadi Square. (iranstreets)
0530 GMT: Here we go. It is 22 Bahman, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, and we, like many others, start the day with nervous expectation of what is to come.