This also happened during a period of doggedly overblown optimism about the opposition in Iran and its chances against the government. We were all rooting for

This also happened during a period of doggedly overblown optimism about the opposition in Iran and its chances against the government. We were all rooting for them, of course, and the optimistic coverage may have helped them a little bit, and perhaps it was difficult to get real information, but it clearly wasn't careful or apolitical journalism. That was probably as much of a factor as the "boy wizard" aspect.