Bloggers: Stop Reporting Neda Myth as Fact
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Andrew Sullivan posts this e-mail today under the headline “Confirming the Basij Murder of Neda.” The video, for those who haven’t seen it, is graphic and disturbing. The e-mail Sullivan points to, however, confirms nothing. It claims to be from a doctor who treated her on the scene. He says he clearly saw a “basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house.” He also says “he had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her.” It’s hardly believable that in the chaos of the crowd, this doctor could have been looking at the rooftop the moment before the shot. He then says, in what is obvious rhetorical flourish: “He aimed straight at her heart.”
I do not begrudge this “doctor” his narrative. But it should not be reported by respectable American news sites as confirmation of a fact. It is an artifact in the construction of a martyr story, just like everything else in the story of Neda: Her name, which means “voice” in Farsi (now silenced), her age, first reported as 16, but actually 27, the final close-up of her face, blood streaming from her mouth, one eye opened.
In their excitement over the role of technology in building democracy, American sites have been gullibly reporting every Twitter and post in support of Mir Hussein Moussavi, conveniently forgetting Moussavi’s own bloody past. Even in the age of Twitter, confirming a murder is not something we do by e-mail.
Photograph of Iranian-American protesters by David McNew/Getty Images.
Hanna Rosin Double X co- editor, reporter, prefer my friends live.
Comments
Dr. in Neda video gave 2 versions of her death
By: johnnyasia | Mon, 07/06/2009 - 07:25
Here's some background on Arash Hejazi, the Dr. in the Neda videos
(there are 2 versions of the death scene, with different bystanders)
Shaping a country: list of Iranian authors
June 17, 2009 - (5 days before the Neda video)
Arash Hejazi originally studied to be a medical doctor in Tehran. His thesis in medical school was about "the influences of storytelling on children's anxiety disorders." ........ A staunch advocate of free speech in Iran, Hejazi is openly against the Iranian government's censorship of books.
http://www.examiner.com/x-13563-Richmond-Literature-Examiner~y2009m6d17-...
"I am concerned about my family. The presidential election is near. They are doing everything to keep things under control," he said.
Arash Hejazi, the Dr. in the Neda video, in 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4544105.stm
Version 1 of Neda's shooting:
shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0624/1224249417475.html
Version 2
shot by an armed man on a motorcycle.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8119713.stm
Thursday, 25 June 2009 20:47 UK
This is Google's cache of http://hejazi.ir/en/blog/. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Jun 16, 2009 13:50:46 GMT.
http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:rY0eG-...lient=firefox-a
about me, and the diaries of an Iranian editor and writer
I am Arash Hejazi, a novel writer, translator, editor, from Iran.
To know about me, you can check my profile at the official website of Caravan Books Publishing House, the publishing house which I am its chief editor.
http://www.caravan.ir/En/AuthorTranslatorDetail.aspx?id=12
Being an editor in Iran, has its own challenges and pecularities, quite another world, comparing it with the life of authors, editors and publishers in most countries. In Iran, we have official censorship and no international copyright agreement, making our book industry one of a kind. What are we doing in Iran? what do people read? and what is the position of the society of intellectuals in the international context against Iran? That is what I am going to write about in my blog.
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There's a guy with a tape measure in the video of Neda and her music
teacher that was supposedly taken "moments before her shooting". He's measuring the scene, looking at the cameraman.
NEDA With Her Music Teacher 20.06.2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95TlWJAkHio
The version of this video that was shown on CNN doesn't show the guy
with the tape measure:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/06/21/on.her.name.was.neda.c...
I googled "tape measure, film crew, movie".........
"To accurately focus on the subject, it is common to measure the
distance (usually with a tape measure...
http://www.moviestaff.com/directory/movie_crew/1st_AC.htm
1st AC / First Assistant Camera......
In cinematography, a focus puller or first assistant camera (1 AC) is
the member of a film crew responsible for keeping the camera's focus
right during a shoot. Often this requires pulling the focus with a
follow focus device during the take without looking through the camera
(the camera operator is doing that), to compensate for camera or
subject movement. The depth of field may sometimes be very small, as
little as 1/4 or 1/8th of an inch (3–6 mm) in extreme circumstances.
Most people on the set will agree that the focus puller's job is among
the most technically difficult during production.
To accurately focus on the subject, it is common to measure the
distance (usually with a tape measure or, more recently, with
electronic tape measures using lasers) between the camera and the
subject being focused before the take.
mis15.ncarts.edu/film/151/cinema_08/film_crew.pdf
FIM 151 - FUNDAMENTALS OF PRODUCTION AND CINEMATOGRAPHY
The principal creative artist on a movie set. A director is usually
(but not ... A key member of the film crew, stationed by the camera,
whose job it is ... By using a tape measure, reference marks and a
good sense of estimation, an ...
My comment.....
By: fuckyoublog | Fri, 07/10/2009 - 20:46
here: http://nowihaveablog.tumblr.com/post/128181614/hanna-rosin-from-double-x...
Both eyes open.
By: freegan | Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:14
In the final close-up both her eyes were open. Her left eye was filled with blood but there was no longer any reflexive closing of the lid as when one is alive. You might have found a source before you posted incorrect information over a blog site. Or you could have noted that it was your opinion that one of her eyes was closed. Your posting is glib.
Neda means Call in Persian.
By: hamid maa | Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:11
Neda means Call in Persian.
Confirmation
By: dvsmith | Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:04
Hanna, while I too fear that journalism is quickly forgetting the importance of accurate sourcing and diligent fact-checking, shortly after Andrew Sullivan's "doctor's letter" was posted to his Atlantic blog, the LA Times published a story that confirms the details of Neda Agha-Soltan's life and circumstances surrounding her death, as reported from Tehran by Borzou Daragahi.
I believe the Persian for
By: Katya0046 | Mon, 06/22/2009 - 11:59
I believe the Persian for 'voice' is seda, not neda.