Educational Media Reviews Online

Reporter Mark Corcoran's mini-documentary features student Farid Modarresi, one of many Iranian dissidents using web sites, weblogs, and other media to express opposition to the conservative Islamic government. Corcoran's voiceover carries the story, giving background on the rise of the current regime, failure of the student reformist movement, and governmental efforts to limit dissent online and in the streets. Brief interviews with Modarresi and others, including a reformist newspaper publisher, a feminist weblogger, and a member of the National Alliance Front, present the situation of the dissidents, while the governmental view is portrayed by briefer interviews with an Islamic cleric, an editor of a leading conservative newspaper, and footage of government-supported anti-American protests. Given the addition of "cyber" to the title, one glaring omission is the lack of substantial description of the dissidents' online content and activities. Yet, this rare look at Iranian dissidents, characterized as having gone underground, successfully depicts a situation in flux, where information is limited to and from the outside world and going public can mean imprisonment, disappearance, or death. The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents, freely available at the Reporters Without Borders web site, should be of interest to educators as well.