It doesn’t matter whether you support defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi or declared presidential winner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—or if you are totally ignorant of the politics or history of Iran—the fact is, democracy stolen is freedom stolen. At this time, current evidence suggest that the June 12 presidential election in Iran was a fraud. Thousands of Mousavi supporters certainly subscribe to that point of view and have take to the streets this past weekend.
Again, The Boston Globe stands tall with its posting of excellent photojournalism from the news wire. The coverage is especially exemplary considering that as the Iranian riots were occurring, U.S. television media devoted their airtime to the rehashing and analysis of the Letterman vs. Palin brouhaha.
In this case, new media provided a window into the live events at the time, particularly Twitter. It was chilling to read the events unfold as they happened. Rumors, accounts of protestors escaping militia and police, and the clampdown by the state were made more powerful because they were often first-hand accounts. (To view current tweets concerning Iran’s disputed election, visit this link on Tweet Grid.) In fact, even before the news wire photos were posted, Iranian photo blogger Amir Sadeghi posted perhaps the most iconic image of the riots (see below) on his blog Tehran 24.
It’s sad when in a world of 24-hour news television, we must turn to alternative sources for news coverage. The only thing we can count on is that television news will cover the coverage they missed out on.
