Hiding the news in Iran

NY Times:

In face of a growing official campaign to disrupt channels of dissent with arrests and restrictions, Tehran braced for a third day of defiance by opposition supporters on Wednesday after Iran’s leaders failed to halt huge demonstrations against last week’s disputed election results.

Placed on the defensive by the biggest demonstrations since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the authorities on Tuesday offered a concession to the sustained rage here, saying they would allow a limited recount of the vote — an offer that was resoundingly rejected.

But there were signs on Wednesday that the authorities were preparing further restrictions both on opposition figures and on the way news about the protest is being spread. On Tuesday, the government revoked press credentials for foreign journalists and ordered journalists not to report from the streets.

On Wednesday, government officials telephoned or sent faxes to reporters in Tehran working for foreign news organizations telling them not to venture outside to cover events being held without an official permit. That included rallies by supporters of the main opposition candidate in last Friday’s elections, Mir Hussein Moussavi, and even news conferences or other public events held without the government’s approval, reporters in Tehran said.

Government officials told journalists that they were at risk following an incident on Tuesday when a photographer was stabbed and wounded while covering a rally. But, at the same time, two more well-known journalists, Sayeed Leilaz and Mohamed Reza Jalaipour, were detained Wednesday and were likely to be held for several days, associates and family members said, illustrating the depth of official concern to prevent word of the protests spreading inside and outside the country.

Defying the restrictions, Iranians using the Internet messaging service Twitter spread the word that another silent demonstration was scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday and called on protesters to wear green, the signature color of the opposition camp. New amateur video surfaced outside of Iran on Wednesday, apparently showing a government militia rampaging through a dormitory area of Tehran University late Tuesday or early on Wednesday.

...

There is more.

The Iran regime has something to hide, but so far it has been too big to ignore so the media and the movement keep finding ways to get the truth out. As the regime becomes more and more repressive, that repression becomes the news too. It is becoming a Marshall McLuhan moment.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that the State Department intervened to get Twitter to postpone some scheduled maintenance so that the feed stayed open. Perhaps it was providing their best source of what was really going on in Iran.