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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Boomer with Attitude / News 'New media' thwart Iran censorship
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 11:21 AM
The world has been mesmerized by the post-election uproar in Iran, largely reported via Twitter and Facebook, with photos and videos uploaded by people on the scene during the massive rallies in Teheran. Today the stakes are as high, if not higher than yesterday. Seven people have been killed, opposition candidate Mousavi has called for a national strike tomorrow, and authorities in Iran have banned foreign media (including Iranians working for foreign media) from reporting on the streets, or even from sending independent videos or photos of rallies or street protests. Some foreign reporters have been told to leave immediately. The silence that was supposed to be the result of the new crackdown on foreign reporters is, for now, being swamped by the “new media,” i.e., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. which is giving the world a view of the Islamic Republic it wishes you couldn’t see. If you’re interested in following the heady political happenings in Iran, various websites are doing a good job of staying on top of things with live blogging from myriad sources in Iran; we’ve been particularly impressed with the ongoing reporting from huffingtonpost.com and thedailybeast.com. Conventional news organizations such as newspapers and cable news stations have been next to useless, so this is one older guy who says thank God for digital cameras, cellphone cameras, and social networking sites.
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