SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Covering Iran: the role of conventional and non-conventional media

The 2009 presidential election in Iran and its unexpected aftermath provided conventional international media channels with great challenges in covering events. Visas, access, minders, language, expertise, all had to be negotiated. Then as further controls were brought to bear on the foreign press, many channels turned to use mobile phone footage and Twitter messages in television coverage.

How effective were transnational media in reporting Iran in the first place? What practices did they develop with regard to the use of non-conventional means of news gathering? How did they check the accuracy of sources such as mobile phone footage in reporting events in Iran? Are these and other forms of ‘citizen journalism’ – such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook -- an effective means of subverting attempts to silence the media? Or does it subvert the whole profession of journalism by substituting multiple, fragmented views for balanced impartial reporting?

What does it mean to become a citizen journalist in such a moment of crisis? Who takes up this role and how do they function? How do we assess the relative impacts of citizen journalists and mainstream media in reporting on such crises? What remains unknown and perhaps unknowable?

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