Protestors are using the popular micro-blogging site Twitter to make an end run around the foreign press blackout in Iran, and getting help from the US. Here's a look at what they're saying. After the weekend's images of beaten demonstrators, and Monday's scenes of mass rallies, Iranian authorities clamped down on foreign press on Tuesday. Reporters from Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine were told not to leave their offices to report on the ongoing protests. US broadcaster CNN was forced to use pictures taken from Iranian state television, which showed only the pro-Ahmadinejad rally. The Islamic Republic's crippling of the mainstream media meant that so-called "citizen journalism" took on an increasingly important role. Ordinary Iranians sent pictures and videos they'd taken with digital cameras and mobile phones, showing both peaceful demonstrations and continued harassment and violence from authorities. Among the best ways available to get written communiqués out was through the website Twitter.
After the weekend's images of beaten demonstrators, and Monday's scenes of mass rallies, Iranian authorities clamped down on foreign press on Tuesday. Reporters from Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine were told not to leave their offices to report on the ongoing protests. US broadcaster CNN was forced to use pictures taken from Iranian state television, which showed only the pro-Ahmadinejad rally.
The Islamic Republic's crippling of the mainstream media meant that so-called "citizen journalism" took on an increasingly important role. Ordinary Iranians sent pictures and videos they'd taken with digital cameras and mobile phones, showing both peaceful demonstrations and continued harassment and violence from authorities. Among the best ways available to get written communiqués out was through the website Twitter.
Right-wing Israeli interests are engaged in an all out Twitter attack with hopes of delegitimizing the Iranian election and causing political instability within Iran. Anyone using Twitter over the past few days knows that the topic of the Iranian election has been the most popular. Thousands of tweets and retweets alleging that the election was a fraud, calling for protests in Iran, and even urging followers hack various Iranian news websites (which they did successfully). The Twitter popularity caught the eye of various blogs such as Mashable and TechCrunch and even made its way to mainstream news media sites. Were these legitimate Iranian people or the works of a propaganda machine? I became curious and decided to investigate the origins of the information. In doing so, I narrowed it down to a handful of people who have accounted for 30,000 Iran related tweets in the past few days. Each of them had some striking similarities -
Right-wing Israeli interests are engaged in an all out Twitter attack with hopes of delegitimizing the Iranian election and causing political instability within Iran.
Anyone using Twitter over the past few days knows that the topic of the Iranian election has been the most popular. Thousands of tweets and retweets alleging that the election was a fraud, calling for protests in Iran, and even urging followers hack various Iranian news websites (which they did successfully). The Twitter popularity caught the eye of various blogs such as Mashable and TechCrunch and even made its way to mainstream news media sites.
Were these legitimate Iranian people or the works of a propaganda machine? I became curious and decided to investigate the origins of the information. In doing so, I narrowed it down to a handful of people who have accounted for 30,000 Iran related tweets in the past few days. Each of them had some striking similarities -
The State Department asked social-networking site Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance earlier this week to avoid disrupting communications among tech-savvy Iranian citizens as they took to the streets to protest Friday's reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The move illustrates the growing influence of online social-networking services as a communications media. Foreign news coverage of the unfolding drama, meanwhile, was limited by Iranian government restrictions barring journalists from "unauthorized" demonstrations. "One of the areas where people are able to get out the word is through Twitter," a senior State Department official said in a conversation with reporters, on condition of anonymity. "They announced they were going to shut down their system for maintenance and we asked them not to."
The move illustrates the growing influence of online social-networking services as a communications media. Foreign news coverage of the unfolding drama, meanwhile, was limited by Iranian government restrictions barring journalists from "unauthorized" demonstrations.
"One of the areas where people are able to get out the word is through Twitter," a senior State Department official said in a conversation with reporters, on condition of anonymity. "They announced they were going to shut down their system for maintenance and we asked them not to."
