The recent re-election of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has resulted in mass protests throughout Iran. Many Iranian protesters believe that the elections were rigged and that their reform candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi didn't get a fair play. Much of the news out of Iran has been focused on the clashes between police and protestors.

Although the Iranian regime has banned foreign coverage of these protests, Iranian citizens have quickly filled the void by providing some dramatic images of these protests. I commend the Iranian people's determination to tell their stories through new media. Iranians are blogging, tweeting and uploading videos of these protests. These citizen semi-journalists are serving as part advocate for their cause and part journalist to tell a wider public about their story. This may be the future of journalism as we know it.

Much like the American public wanted change in the 2008 elections, Iranian people wanted change in these elections. Americans got the change they demanded. Iranians didn't. Let's hope that these protests and the efforts of citizen semi-journalists can at least pressure the regime to become more accountable (and perhaps more democratic) to an increasingly frustrated public.