Iranian elections and citizen journalism

The era of I-witnesses

When Ayatolla Ali Khameni, the Supreme Leader of Iran, in the due course of events forbade public criticism and journalists found it increasingly hard to cover the protests, global media had to turn to DEMOTIX for footage, while unprofessional eyewitnesses were sending out thier observations through networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Google's instant messenger tool and others for covering the events in the streets. I-reports, I-witnesses, street journalists and amateurs made it obvious that journalism can reach beyond boundaries, limitations and restrictions of freedom of speech


By SUSANNE WERNICKE
from Greiffenberg, GERMANY


Iran, its people, its history, its political and religious system is made of a conglomerate of complex events and interdependencies of the region. Henceforth it is considered a crucial country for the fate of the Middle East by Western Governments. Elections held in June this year were expected to end the conservative reign of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Instead of celebrating the oppositional leader's victory, though Mister Ahmadinejad has taken office again.

A 'choice' to people is given

The Iranian electoral system is according to Dr Mansour Farhang of Bennington College: unfree, undemocratic and yet competitive. Robert Malley, program director International crisis group, thinks that unlike in a western democratic electoral system, Iran's elections are a way of legitimizing a regime by selecting a controllable choice of candidates that run for office. By no means are the candidates the voice of the people. In other words, the candidates that are running for presidency have previously been approved off by the clergy and will therefore only partially represent the people once sworn into office. This way of providing choices used to have a stabilizing effect as it assumes 'power' to the people.

When the results were announced on June 12th a shock wave ran through the country. Immediately following protests and voices accusing the regime of fraud. Unlike widely expected it was not Mister Hossein Moussavi who won the elections, but Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. President Ahmadinejad commented the situation saying: "The world has expected me to lose these elections. Now that I have won, they suspect a fraud."

The daily increase of demonstrators in the streets of Teheran that followed the fallout of the elections was met by strict regulations from the spiritual leaders. As Mussavi's supporters kept on roaming the streets, showing their frustration and demanding an explanation officials banned the international media, closed down websites and cut diplomatic ties with Britain and other countries.

Speak your mind

International correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, in a report on CNN said that if professional journalism is being restricted, the vacuum that is created is filled with reports of unprofessional eyewitnesses. At that point journalists depend on observations send out through networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Google's instant messenger tool and others for covering the events in the streets. I-reports, I-witnesses, street journalists and amateurs made it obvious that journalism can reach beyond boundaries, limitations and restrictions of freedom of speech.

When Ayatolla Ali Khameni, the Supreme Leader of Iran, in the due course of events forbade public criticism and journalists found it increasingly hard to cover the protests, global media had to turn to DEMOTIX for footage. This London based citizen-journalism website feeds the latest in pictures and videos to newspapers, TV channels and media agencies with a demand for updates on news from around the world. Demotix founder, Turi Munthe, says its a creation of people for people and a street wire. The page has gained popularity especially during the Iranian election fallout and hence has been able to grant freedom of speech to those who had been denied this basic right.

Working technology and operating Internet tools is usually considered young people's terrain. With the Mussavi supporters being mostly young people, alternative journalistic sources are mainly supplied by information from this part of Iranian society that accounts for 60% of the population. Even though their networking websites are blogged they found a way of keeping the flow of information going. A proxi makes it possible.

Dimitar Tasev, program developer, describes the process as such: "Type the address you want to visit on the proxi web site. It encrypts the address for you, sends it to its server and the server makes the request for you. The data is then delivered to the server. Finally the server encrypts the data again and sends it to you. In the end your computer decrypts it and presents it to you." Thanks to the proxi websites Youtube, Facebook and Google will in the future receive footage from the streets of Teheran.

This new coming of age in journalism is crucial for the individual protester in Iran, for its fellow Iranian outside the country and for all those who want to stay informed. Its advantages range from detailed, first hand, insightful, cutting edge to unique and uncensored. Its drawbacks remain with convolution, bias and unverified sources. However, consuming news has never been such an adventure, especially when we can be part of it.


(Published: 18.07.2009.)