Well, it’s better than the death penalty—but Iranian blogger Hossein Derakshan has been sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison for postings on his Farsi-language blog. According to the Associated Press, Derakshan has been a vocal supporter of President Ahmadinejad, and is credited for launching the Iranian blog revolution. Formerly based in Canada, the blogger was arrested during a visit to Iran in 2008 and has periodically been held without communication with lawyers or families. Derakshan will have the chance to appeal.
How’s this for your resume: Students from the University of British Columbia’s master of journalism program have won an Emmy for their work on Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground. The documetary about digital waste won for outstanding investigative journalism in a news magazine. The students and professor Peter Klein beat 60 Minutes, CBS’ 48 Hours and ABC’s Nightline.
Science-phobic journalists rejoice! The Science Media Centre of Canada launched this week with the purpose of linking journalists with the experts and research they need to cover scientific news. The organization hopes to help general assignment reporters who’ve been thrown on the science beat without the required expertise.
Canadian filmmaker Richard Phinney wrote an account of his bizarre arrest in yesterday’s Globe and Mail. The journalist says he was making a film about golf in Scotland when he was arrested this summer for “just carrying out interviews to establish the truth and hold people to account.”
About the author
Wendy Gillis was the Senior Editor for the Winter 2011 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism.