'Anonymous' Captured Neda's Death, and Now the Polk Award

In Farsi her name means "voice."

Almost instantaneously, screengrabs of 26-year-old student Neda Agha-Soltan, shot through the heart on June 20, 2009, by the Iranian regime's hired guns, became the face of a movement.

So powerful was the 40-second video of Neda dying before our eyes, the regime tried to denounce it as a fake.

When that didn't work, they blamed Neda's death on unarmed protesters and the CIA.

The George Polk Award, named for a CBS reporter who died covering the Greek civil war, has for the first time in its 61-year history gone to an anonymous bystander who filmed Neda's rapid decline from gravely wounded to death.

The video wound up with the Guardian, Voice of America and five individuals, one of whom put it on Facebook. Someone else uploaded it to YouTube, and from there the video went viral.

The implications of a prestigious journalism award for anonymous work are enormous, not just for reporters and editors, but for the world. Take foreign policy. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship."

Hell, I could have told you that! Months ago. Anyone connected to the Internet could.

Even so, it's significant when our secretary of state publicly acknowledges the problem. Solutions will be harder to come by.

How does one make war on the Nedas of the world? Most Americans would sooner help Iranian citizens than bomb them. It's a compelling sight -- men and women, young and old, risking their lives to stand up to a corrupt government. And eight months after the disputed election and murder of Neda and other protesters, sympathizers across the globe are still demonstrating and holding vigils.

One has to wonder how differently World War II might have gone if video had been smuggled out of Poland after the Nazi invasion. Or whether Hiroshima would have been spared for a less-civilian city if footage of the bombing of Dresden had been posted on YouTube.

As for the profession of journalism, social media have not been kind to it. The line between journalist and bystander is now forever blurred. In the last couple of years, some newspapers filed for bankruptcy, and others cut costs by laying off staff and closing foreign bureaus.

What bloggers did to writers goes double for photographers. A clear demarcation line would be difficult to draw, but I suspect the notion of citizen journalist was already in place by Sept. 11, 2001. If not, that's where it began. Some video and photographs by average citizens on that historic day exceed those by photojournalists in timing and, sometimes, in quality too.

Today's digital cameras are capable of producing brilliant, detailed pictures, and even the humble point-and-shoot puts out respectable images. Camera phones allow anyone to be a photojournalist wherever the big news happens to alight on a given day.

These cameras and the photo-sharing Web sites they spawned have decimated the livelihoods of videographers and photojournalists. Even the venerable National Geographic is playing this game, according to comments on the recent Reflections of a Newsosaur post "Stop the Exploitation of Journalists."

"I got a call from a representative of National Geographic who wanted to use some of my photos in one of their TV shows," wrote one commenter. "No pay, only exposure." Someone replied, "The whole idea of 'exposure' is that it would work to get you bigger gigs, ie National Geographic!"

Last June I closely followed events in Iran. I wasn't the first to see footage of Neda, but I was early. My initial comment on the video is dated June 20 around 2 p.m. Central Time, or about 11:30 p.m. in Tehran, just four hours after the shooting -- unthinkable with last century's technology.

A Web site has archived some of the first tweets about Neda:

Death of an Unknown Siste (confirmed name: Neda) : Extremely Graphic
Jun 20, 2009 9:57 AM
Note: I donot own this video. I am reposting to raise awareness. To help visit: iran.sharearchy.com emsenn.com blog.austinheap.com iran.whyweprotest.net

Iran, Tehran: wounded girl dying in front of camera, Her name was Neda
Jun 20, 2009 10:25 AM
Basij shots to death a young woman in Tehran's Saturday June 20th protests At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing ...

June 20th. 2009, IRAN, Killing of a young protestor
Jun 20, 2009 10:37 AM
What does it take ? Where the hell is UN, EU, Amnesty, where the hell are they ? They are saying: "She has been shot, some one take her to hospital." Its her dad beside her. the girl is called "Ned...

Iranian woman killed in protests [Two Videos]
Jun 20, 2009 10:43 AM
GRAPHIC Two perspectives of a woman gunned down during protests in Iran Originals: www.youtube.com www.youtube.com At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Sa...

Young Iranian Girl (Neda) Murdered By Basij
Jun 20, 2009 10:49 AM
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT !!!! She was killed by a gunshot directly to her heart. she died within 2 minutes. Her name was Neda. May she rest in peace and may God give her family eternal strength! Th...

Standing beside Neda that day was not her father, we now know, but rather her music teacher.

I hope someday Neda's name will adorn streets and schools in a democratic Iran. I hope whoever shot the footage of Neda's last moment on Earth will someday be free to step forward, claim the award and join fellow Iranians in mourning this young woman who was warned of the danger she faced on June 20, but went out to protest anyway.