Apparently, Iranians don't do satire very well, no doubt one of the nasty side effects of not having a functional free press. Earlier this year Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari suffered the brunt of Iran's confusion over a Daily Show interview he had participated in. Bahari was jailed during June's protests and then interrogated over video footage of the interview showing him being interviewed by "an American journalist pretending to be a spy." In reality this "spy" was Jason Jones. (more...)

It's nearly impossible to be surprised by political hypocrisy on any level these days, particularly when you are talking about iron-fisted rulers of countries like Iran. But still, this is sort of funny, in an Onion headline sort of way: Apparently, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran has a blog. The WSJ reported yesterday that Ahmadinejad spends 15 minutes a week updating "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Personal Memos" where he "he goes to vent and stay in touch with the common folk." On the one hand this is particularly galling considering Iran's treatment of reporters and bloggers and its vicious crackdown on protesters last June who were desperately attempting to reach the world with news of what was happening through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. On the other hand, is it really a surprise? Of course a man desperate to control his own message is on the Internet. Next we'll discover he's also on Twitter. In fact some of his recent UN statements strike as very Twitterable, though perhaps not in the tone intended. Anyway, according to the WSJ the Farsi version of the blog has not one negative comment on it (the fact it allows comments at all is sort of amazing), no doubt Ahmadinejad either employs strict comment monitors or people are just too scared to say what they really think. The English-language version(!) apparently has plenty, though as of this morning I couldn't access so maybe its servers were unable to handle the excess attention. Stay tuned.

video Maziar Bahari is free, finally, after 118 days in an Iranian prison, on trumped-up charges of being a spy for the Mossad, CIA, MI6, and Newsweek — charges that were leveled at him, he says, specifically to fit him into the false narrative being spun by Iran's leadership to its people following the post-election uprising last June. Bahari recounted the experience in minute, fascinating detail in Newsweek last week, and has subsequently appeared on 60 Minutes, Charlie Rose and, last night, the Daily Show. Only one of those shows were to blame for his incarceration. (more...)

video It is a very small world. You may recall back in June The Daily Show sent correspondent Jason Jones to Iran just ahead of the elections to film a series of "funny" spots about how the country was dealing with the election. Of course, neither the Daily Show nor the rest of the world could have anticipated the sweeping and violent protests that followed the elections. Yet instead of shelving the spots for a more appropriate time, the show opted to air the segments anyway; it was a decision that struck as amazingly tone deaf (I actually thought it bordered on offensive), particularly for a show that prides itself on being one step savvier than the rest. (more...)

It is a measure of the power the New York Times op-ed pages still possess -- despite the financial struggles both the paper and the industry face -- that Jon Meacham editor of Newsweek opted to turn to them to advocate for the release of Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari. (more...)

Arguably the best part of today's press conference with just-landed Laura Ling and Euna Lee is when Ling recounted being told the were being taken to a impromptu meeting, and then walking into a room and seeing Bill Clinton. Wow, right? It's like every Christmas you've ever had rolled into one! That said, was it a big mistake? (more...)

I have been going around saying I am a superhero. I am mostly being tongue-in-cheek, but when I become a bionic journalist/documentary maker it will give me a certain kind of crime-fighting ability. I have a got a working prototype and I am tantalizingly close to getting a robust field model of my camera eye working (anyone got twenty grand?). Once I do, I will have a camera that looks just like an eye. I will be able to go places and do things other camerapersons can’t. (more...)