How the Neda Video Became the Most Important Image of the Iranian Protests

Bill Mitchell, writing for Poynter, explains the impact of the video of Neda's death during a protest in Tehran has affected how news is being covered.

The mention of her name at a presidential news conference reflected the extent to which Neda Soltani had become, as Malveaux put it, "the human face" of the weekend's dramatic events in Iran.

But the brief exchange between correspondent and president also represented something of particular relevance to journalists: a big step in a process that transformed a horrible but isolated event in Iran into international news.

It's a process -- call it Next Step Journalism -- that will shape more and more of the news we need from around the block and around the globe.Journalists have relied on a process approach to writing for years.

The Next Step Journalism process practiced on the Neda story began with an event and is characterized by the collective sharing and enhancing of information.

Such a process provides lots of opportunities for journalists and non-journalists alike to assess what a story needs next, figure out what he or she is best equipped to contribute, and move the story along.

He breaks it down into seven steps: documentation, context. transmission and distribution, verification, correction, analysis and sense-making.

In his piece, Mitchell dissects the process and how a short 30-second video made from a cell phone became the journalistic focus of what could be the biggest story of the year.

CNN Looks at Neda, the Person

CNN takes a look at who was Neda Agha Sultan, the Iranian woman whose death was caught on a cell phone video and who has becaome a rallying point for protesters in that country.

The second of three children, Neda lived with her parents in a middle-class neighborhood east of Tehran.

She was a happy, positive person. Though she studied philosophy and religion at the Azad Islamic University, she was more spiritual than religious. She also loved music. She once studied violin but had given it up and was planning to take up piano next. She had just bought a piano, but it had not yet been delivered.

Her demeanor was typically calm, even serene, but she had a quirky, playful sense of humor. A friend recalled that once, when Neda was visiting her friend's house, she picked up a white Teddy bear, took off her big, purple-studded earrings and put them on the bear. Then she removed a necklace from around the neck of a friend and put it around the bear's neck, taking delight in the bear's transformation.

She liked to travel, having visited Turkey three months ago with a tour group. And she believed in human rights, her friend said.