Every news story is also a media story.

When Iranian state media said on Sunday that a helicopter in the convoy of Ebrahim Raisi, the president, had experienced a “hard landing,” the combination of an insular government’s opacity and internet rumor-mongering only added to the fog. 

At the Monitor, we always talk about how we can add something distinctive – often, calm context – before we commit real resources to a breaking story. (Our managing editor spoke about this on our podcast last year.)

Our piece today leverages the light-bringing expertise of Scott Peterson, a writer who has traveled inside the Islamic Republic 30 times and written a book about it. Scott brings perspective – at the speed of news.