• Mediaweek, Friday, June 19, 2009 9:30 AM

CNN.com's iReport is seeing a major boost in submissions from citizen journalists in post-election Iran, as restrictions have been slapped on mainstream media. More than half the total iReport submissions in the last week have come from the Iran area.

From June 13 to June 17, iReport.com received nearly 1,600 citizen-produced reports from Iran-mostly photos along with some video content. Plus, the site has added over 3,000 new members over that period, more than double its normal rate.

The restrictions placed on the media in Iran have created an ideal scenario for citizen journalists to contribute to CNN. "It's incredibly difficult for our reporters to get anything on this story," says producer Mike Toppo. "This is the sort of event that demonstrates exactly what we wanted to do with iReport." However, given the controversial nature of the news, CNN officials have only approved 56 reports for use on air and online so far.

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