Reporting from Iran

The New York Times’ excellent Iran blog flags up the fact that the Iranian government are now clamping down on reporters:

“Iranian authorities are restricting all journalists working for foreign media from firsthand reporting on the streets. The rules cover all journalists, including Iranians working for foreign media. It blocks images and eyewitness descriptions of the protests and violence that has followed last week’s disputed elections.

The order issued Tuesday limits journalists for foreign media to work only from their offices, conducting telephone interviews and monitoring official sources such as state television.” This is, obviously, not a surprising move. But it is something worth bearing in mind as you watch the news and read the papers over the next few days. Those journalists who are reporting from there are walking a tightrope. This is a time when we should try and read between the lines of what is written.