News Choices in Covering the Iranian Election

Hamburg.
The next speaker at ECREA 2010 is Max Hänska-Ahy, whose interest is in the use of Twitter and satellite TV in the recent Iranian election and its aftermath. The outcome of the election was highly disputed, of course, with widespread protests; domestic media and other channels of communication were shut down or disrupted by the government. External media sources (BBC World News, CNN, etc.) remained important sources of information during this time, but their satellite channels, too, were disrupted.

Such satellite channels are produced at a great distance from Iran, however, and relied almost exclusively on user-generated content which often could not be independently verified. This disrupts the conventional symmetries (between audiences, citizens, decision makers, political practitioners), and connects a number of normally unconnected stakeholders. Assessments of what may be relevant or appropriate information to include in news coverage are difficult here, as the basis for such assessments may be contingent on local context.

Faced with such challenges, news professionals often move from a teleological conception of their work to a more principles-based conception in order to address such emerging questions. But the problem of the democratic status of public communication remains unanswered.