UPDATED: Keller of 'NYT' in Iran: 'The Iranians Watch Us Closely'

By: Joe Strupp Executive Editor Bill Keller of The New York Times, who has been in Iran for the past week -- and done some unexpected reporting -- tells E&P in two e-mails today that he originally went there to see his reporters in action, but then "plunged in" when the post-election story grew so big.

Keller responded to a request for information on his trip.

"Too busy to do justice to the subject," he wrote to E&P.

"Briefly, I came to watch our reporters in action and to get a (first) taste of a big subject. I try to get out in the field as often as I can, because nothing else gives you as good a sense of the complexities and texture of a story.

"I usually don't write on these trips, but this story got so big, and the correspondents were so welcoming of an extra pair of hands, that I plunged in. It reminds me why I got into this business. (Also, no one here wants to talk about the future of the newspaper business.)"

A second email, obviously rushed, added the following (original punctuation not changed):

"i'm writing, and it's getting late. my visa's up tomorrow and i have to go.

"the iranians watch us closely, seem to know where we are much of the time. yesterday i took a five-hour drive to isfahan, in western iran (details TK in the nyt) and on the way we stopped to take a peek at the holy city of qom. as we were making a loop through that city, my translator got a call on his cell phone from the ministry that oversees the press: "please tell me, what is your program in qom.'

"some reporters have contemplated overstaying their visas, trying to work under the radar. even if you manage to elude the authorities, though, you create real dangers for all the iranians you would need to hide you, translate for you, get you around and help you get the story out.

"gotta go."

Today?s front page top Times story does not have a Keller byline but at the end it notes that he ?contributed reporting? from Isfahan, Iran. Indeed the story include two grafs from there: ?In Isfahan, south of Tehran, more violence broke out on Monday, with the police attacking a crowd of several thousand opposition protesters and rioters setting fires in parts of the city.? It is the third-largest city of Iran.

Keller, a longtime Times correspondent in Moscow and elsewhere, has contributed a front-page analysis piece on Sunday and shared a news byline yesterday.

As the Associated Press and others have reported today, all foreign journalists have been banned from leaving their homes or offices to cover events, and others are being expelled as visas expire. Photographers have had difficulties sending pictures back to the U.S. and communication inside the country via cell, texting and Twitter and blogs has been severely restricted.