Iran
10 worst countries to be a blogger
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists puts together a list of the 10 worst countries to be a blogger. Visit their site to find out more about the 10 countries and the justification for inclusion. The list, in order, is below and Burma comes out worst. Click each […]
The case of Roxana Saberi
The parents of Roxana Saberi, the freelance journalist sentenced to eights years for espionage in Tehran, have visited their daughter in the Iranian capital for the first time since the verdict was dished out at the weekend. The 31 year old was originally arrested for buying a bottle of wine. Her subsequent one day […]
Brook Lapping at Frontline
Anyone lucky enough to be at the Frontline Club screenings this past week got reminded about what first rate powerful documentary making is all about. It’s been far too long since we’ve had a blockbuster Brook Lapping series. But Iran & the West is in the best tradition of Death of Yugoslavia and the Russian […]
Unemployed in Tehran
Issa Saharkhiz talks about the difficulties of working as a journalist in Tehran to NPR. Or in his case, of not working. Saharkhiz tells NPR that every paper he’s ever worked on has been closed. Most recently, the Iranian authorities closed two popular publications he ran; the Daily Economic News and a monthly magazine called […]
Live Obama Middle East talk tonight
View in iTunes How will President Barack Obama tackle the Middle East and the United States relationship with the region? That’s the question up for debate tonight at the Frontline Club. We start at 7pm GMT / 11am PST tonight Tues 27 Januray. The event is sold out. If you can’t make it to the […]
Farnaz Fassihi on reporting and Iraq
Farnaz Fassihi, an Iranian-American journalist, author of Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq and The Wall Street Journal‘s deputy bureau chief for the Middle East and Africa, talks to Sara Sarnaz on the Persian Mirror. Fasshi reported from Iraq from 2002 until 2006 and in the interview she talks about […]
Tehran newspaper shut down
The Shahrvand-e-Emrouz newspaper in Iran was shut down today. The LA Times Babylon & Beyond blog reports the weekly, with a circulation of 50,000, was banned for “publishing untrue news about the government of Ahmadinejad.” Ramin Mostaghim talked to one of the journalists on the paper about the shut down, “We were expecting such a […]
From Chicago to the streets of Tehran
Ramin Mostaghim blogged the reaction on the streets of Tehran to the election of Barrack Obama to the presidency of the United States, Hassan Mosavi, a 47-year-old barber, said he’s been closely following the campaign for days, mostly watching the Voice of America satellite channel. This morning, he awoke to see images of jubilation as […]
Escape from Iran
Ahmed Batebi who fled from Iran after eight years in prison tells his story in a short video on the New York Times. Using footage he shot on a small camera Batebi tells the story of his journey froma activist to refugee as he slipped over the border into northern Iraq with the help of […]
Ahmad Rafat wins press freedom award
Ahmad Rafat, deputy director of Adnkronos International (AKI) has won the Ilaria Alpi Television Journalism Award for Freedom of the Press. The Italo-Iranian journalist hit the headlines last week when he was barred access to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s global food summit, Rafat, who has spent years writing about political and social […]
Pre-emptive war reporting
Syria and Israel are at war. Well… they’re not exactly, but if conflict commences – the Iranian media will have it covered. In fact, they’ll also have have it covered if it’s Lebanon at war with Israel, according to the Iranian news agency ‘A’sr Iran. 20 Iranian TV and radio reporters are going through a […]
The folly of attacking Iran
Stephen Kinzer, former New York Times foreign correspondent, is in Philadeplhia on a tour to promote his book “The Folly of Attacking Iranâ€. Philly Mag interviews Kinzer ahead of his talk, As a staff reporter, I was not able to beat my spoon on the highchair. That’s one of the reasons I left the New […]
Touch and go journalism
In Tehran, and blogging for the LA Times, Ramin Mostaghim talks about how one western journalist (+ editor) were flown in – to an alleged Ministry of Intelligence hotspot-come-hotel – to interview President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and promptly flown out again after the interview. Ramin argues this kind of “touch-and-go journalism” has become all too common […]
“I hate all Iranians”
Seymour Hersh gnaws through the Bush/Cheney case for the next Iraq in errr… Iran.