Media Getting Overzealous With Coverage Of Neda Soltani

CNN.com:

"RIP NEDA, The World cries seeing your last breath, you didn't die in vain. We remember you."

That Twitter post was from a man who said he is a guitarist from Nashville, Tennessee.

Amid the hundreds of images of Saturday's crackdown on protesters in Iran that were distributed to the world over the Internet, it was the graphic video showing the dying moments of a young woman shot in the heart that touched a nerve for many people around the world.

Like most of the information coming out of Tehran, it is impossible to verify her name, Neda, or the circumstances of her apparent death, which was captured close-up on a bystander's camera.

CNN ran a pixilated version of the video, which was posted on YouTube. Another amateur video captured images of Neda and her father attending what appeared to be a peaceful protest, just moments before the shooting. It shows a woman in jeans and white sneakers collapsed on the street, as the person with the camera -- most likely from a cell phone -- runs toward her and focuses on her face.

One blogger posted that Neda was protesting with her father in Tehran when pro-government Basiji militia opened fire and shot her.

"The final moments of her tender young life leaked into the pavement of Karegeh Street today, captured by cell phone cameras," the unnamed blogger posted on Newsvine.com. "And not long after, took on new life, flickering across computer screens around the world on YouTube, and even CNN."

People on Twitter started forming a discussion group with the "hashtag" #neda to post their comments about her death and media coverage of the killing, as well.

The Iran protests and have been going on for days now, hundreds have died and the American press wants to make this about the death of a pretty, light-skinned girl. Should anyone be surprised? Granted, what happened to this young lady is tragic and all the images on her passing can't help but move you, but the reality is that little is really known about 'Neda' and Iran remains a global threat no matter whose in charge--it's why the Right has been so angry about Barry's response to this mess. What with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad having no real power over the Iranian military, the building of nuclear arsenal in Iran remains pressing regardless of how these protests turn out. Thus it's on our media to keeps their eyes on the ball here instead of using Neda Soltani as a convenient distraction.