Our correspondent studies how user-generated content covering the protests in Tehran is redefining the ground rules of journalism
We could be witnessing the dawn of a new era. As turmoil engulfed Iran following President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s re-election, the administration tried to plug the flow of news by banning all foreign media. But they were seemingly unprepared for what was to follow. Many independent journalists, and a handful of citizen journalists, have since been on the job, ensuring that the world gets to know what is happening in the Islamic Republic, by the minute.

Over most of last week, they have been posting photographs and news clips from their mobile phones on to micro-blogging site Twitter and to the Demotix, a new, but very popular, hub for freelance journalists. Conventional news agencies like Reuters and Associated Press have now started sourcing photographs from the websites for their newswires. Worried over this unwanted and unwarranted coverage, Iranian authorities are trying their best to stem the flow of “uncensored news”, cracking down on journalists and amateurs posting pictures of the protests and tracking down others. But their efforts have not yet dampened the resolve of the ‘news crusaders’.

While both Twitter and Demotix have been a source of from-the-spot news for sometime, Iran could be their big break. When Mumbai was attacked last November, minute-by-minute accounts from people close to the centre of action were the only source of news for millions of residents in the city, where cable networks had been taken off air for security reasons.

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