• The Associated Press, Monday, June 22, 2009 9:45 AM

In the conflict unfolding in Iran, the international media is struggling to work around an official ban on firsthand reporting. At the same time, government authorities are seeing the difficulties in controlling information in the Internet age.

Many major news outlets must now rely on phone calls, e-mails and Web chats to contact Iranian protesters and officials for information. Editors and journalists must quickly decide what to pursue from the avalanche of rumors, tips and observations on social-networking sites. Thomas Warhover, associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, says the social networks are serving as a "counterpart" rather than a competitor to traditional reporting.

The AP monitors Twitter and other sites and has reported some posts about known events. But problems abound. For instance, anti-government campaigners encouraged Twitter users outside Iran to reset their location as the Tehran area -- knowing that it would increase their global exposure. "That's great for activists, but it's terrible for journalists," says Sree Sreenivasan, professor at Columbia. "You've been following these people who you thought were in Iran, and they're not."

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