Citizen journalists in Iran,
Remember you are documenting important world events that will influence the thinking and the political decisions of many people across the world. Your videos may also be used in later human rights inquiries, as well in journal articles and histories. So here are four simple steps to make your video meet the standards for a usable document.
— Make sure you pan the camera around so that building or other structures can be seen in the video. This way you have solidly documented the location of the event.
— Point the camera to your mouth (wear a half-mask or cover your face with your hands if you have to) and clearly speak the date and time of day. Other information such as to street name, reason for the protest etc. would be useful if available.
— Move the camera away from your mouth and record the event as you would normally. A view of the speaking mouth is important because we can now be sure the video has not been dubbed by a voice-over.
— Broadcast the video with no cuts, splices or editing. Any of the above modifications to the video diminish its quality as a useable document.
Here’s an example of a recording of a significant event that unfortunately cannot be used as solid evidence because it fails on points 1,2, and 3.
