Finally a major wire service carried something on Sina. Unfortunately, it's my least favorite one; AP. However this will mean that more local and national papers will pick up the story, as it is evident already in San Francisco Gate's version here. Others have also noticed his arrest and include it in other stories. An example is this story on Tech Central Station.
I know of at least one major news magazine, as well as a radio broadcasting conglomerate who are also working on stories about him. Let's keep the pressure on and the story alive, it is starting to pay off.
In case you haven't signed the petition yet, or haven't forwarded it to someone that might, you may want to do it right away. We now have enough signatures (over 3,500 as of this moment) to consider submitting the actual petition to the people it is addressed to and the more signatures we have the better. That may happen within the next few days, so get going if you want to be included.
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(UPDATE) - Hoder corrected me and he is right. The AP story is actually not new. Tech Central Station one is from yesterday. It just means that we need to work even harder. I just signed up for some news release distribution services, but quite honestly the good ones are very expensive (over $200 per submitted page). Should I start asking for donations yet?
This is not a new story Pedram. They did it in the first day of his arrest.
Posted by: Hossein Derakhshan at May 6, 2003 11:38 PMHas the story been picked up by any Iranian newspapers or media?
Posted by: 2Josephat at May 7, 2003 11:15 AMPedram, the idea that you should have to pay for a press release to get news services to report about the arrest of someone for free speech...it's preposterous. I'd kick in, but only if I could know where the money went so I could contact them to shame them for taking it.
Posted by: Dave at May 7, 2003 11:41 AMTo 2Josephat - The Iranian media abroad has had extensive coverage. The media inside is far more restricted in what they can and can not say. They have mostly taken it as a "news" story and tried hard to not take a position. However, the number of Iranian journalists that have signed the petition this far, shows clearly what his colleagues think.
To Dave - Thanks for the offer. There used to be many free services doing this, submitting a news release to thousands of newspapers, radio & TV stations, wire services, etc. Most no longer offer the service for free. The only exception is prweb.com but I have heard mixed reviews obout them. Needless to say, I will try them and find out for myself, but we may still need to pay someone to get the right coverage. To find out who these companies are type: News Release Distribution Service , in any search engine and you'll get a list.