The recent election and following controversy in Iran has not so much as provided insight into a complex society struggling to connect modern thinking with traditional values, as revealed a simplistic media, struggling to find stories that reflect our own parochial hopes.
Undoubtedly, the recent election is important to a young democracy – if we can still label it as such.
However, the British press greeted the tumultuous events with the same platitudinous heralds following the Orange and Rose Revolutions. Good triumphs over evil again.
Cut backs at foreign news desks have forced a greater reliance on news wires and 24-hour news channels, resulting in a uniformity of analysis and a pre-packaged “one-size-fits-all” approach at looking at other nations.
The same explanations are pulled out: The anti-Western tyrant is besieged by a pro-Western people that he tries to suppress. The anti-us baddies are oppressing the pro-us goodies.
In Iran, we have persuaded ourselves that Mahmouhd Ahmadinejad has rigged an election, and the losing opposition have vehemently denounced its legitimacy. The Western press, viewing the underdogs using the only method available to the powerless - street protest – and swallowed their argument. We approve of the opposition, and we disapprove of establishment, and we allow this position to seep into our “objective observations.”
Firstly, there is no reason to suppose that the election has been fixed. The chief reason for reaching this conclusion is a list of circumstantial evidence, and, of course, a stolen vote corroborates our good vs. evil narrative. Our attention was drawn to this issue by the opposition that immediately accused Ahmadinejad of dodgy practice. In an unsophisticated yah-boo campaign between competing personalities, this knee-jerk response was hardly surprising. But the British media has not even attempted to confirm the substance of these allegations. Speedy vote counting and higher than expected performance in supposed opposition strongholds is not proof of a fixed election.
Secondly, there is no reason to suppose that Mir Hossein Mousavi would be any better (read: “pro-us”). During his eight year spell as prime minister, he advocated the taking of Americans as hostage by Iranian militants to “further the revolution”. Indeed, there has been very little reporting on the substantive difference between the presidential candidates. Rather, we prefer to force current affairs to correspond to our pre-programmed ideas of good and evil.
I am not condoning the election, or how it was run. I do not doubt the possibility that the people re-elected a president, who enjoyed high polls prior to voting day, who has repeatedly stood up for his small nation against a perceived threatening superpower.
I do, however, object to the shoddy reporting, and the speed to which we revert to a thin narrative of unfolding events. In a country where unelected clerics vet candidates and non-Muslims are forbidden from voting, it seems more likely that hardline people are backing hardline candidates, and whether it will exchange one group of hardliners for another remains to be seen.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Women journalists under attack
The recent prosecution of Roxana Saberi, a joint US-Iranian citizen, under espionage charges, has highlighted that women journalists are increasingly becoming targets of hostility.
In a single session, closed to public scrutiny, Saberi appeared without her lawyer and was sentenced for eight years. Her attorney was reportedly “too sad to speak” later vowed to appeal.
Hassan Haddad, Tehran's deputy prosecutor, stated that Saberi was conducting "spying activities under the guise of being a reporter." Saberi has not operated as a journalist since 2006, after the state revoked her reporting licence.
The extent to which Saberi caused a national security threat to Iran remains unclear. The case took a dramatic turn last week when the 31 year-old, originally charged with “working illegally”, was suddenly accused of spying for the United States.
The new Washington administration, after much failed lobbying on her behalf, has branded the charges as "baseless and without foundation".
Iran is notorious in its disdain for press freedom, where persecution of journalists or even extra-judicial killings are not unknown. No prosecutions have been brought over the death of Zahra Kazemi, a photographer killed in 2003 after receiving blows to the head whilst she was under police interrogation in Tehran.
This new case follows other recent action taken against female journalists.
In February 2009, a total of four women journalists were abducted by a secret society that practices enforced female genital mutilation. One of the kidnapped was forced to walk naked through the streets.
A female journalist was convicted in Burma in November 2008, again in a closed court, for reportedly aiding the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Eint Khaing Oo, travelled into the devastated areas, in order to help those made homeless by the natural disaster. The 24 year-old fell foul of the authorities once she began to photograph victims made. She has received a two-year prison sentence.
The investigation into the death of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist killed in 2006, collapsed in chaos in February after the three Chechens the authorities accused of the crime were released. Conspiracy theories regarding her death still abound, although hard facts are hard to ascertain after the Kremlin closed down public information once it became clear that there was security service involvement in her assassination.
Reporters Without Borders reports that female journalists are increasingly suffering malignant attention. “More and more women journalists are the victims of murder, arrest, threats or intimidation,” the journalist rights organisation reported.
The opening up of a traditionally male-dominated profession, especially in the more dangerous assignments such as war corresponding, has brought more women into risk. Although international organisations have attempted to highlight the plight of female journalists, freedom of the press is still disregarded in many countries. Consequently, similar injustices will likely be repeated in the future unless genuine measures are taken to protect those that risk their lives to report the truth.
In a single session, closed to public scrutiny, Saberi appeared without her lawyer and was sentenced for eight years. Her attorney was reportedly “too sad to speak” later vowed to appeal.
Hassan Haddad, Tehran's deputy prosecutor, stated that Saberi was conducting "spying activities under the guise of being a reporter." Saberi has not operated as a journalist since 2006, after the state revoked her reporting licence.
The extent to which Saberi caused a national security threat to Iran remains unclear. The case took a dramatic turn last week when the 31 year-old, originally charged with “working illegally”, was suddenly accused of spying for the United States.
The new Washington administration, after much failed lobbying on her behalf, has branded the charges as "baseless and without foundation".
Iran is notorious in its disdain for press freedom, where persecution of journalists or even extra-judicial killings are not unknown. No prosecutions have been brought over the death of Zahra Kazemi, a photographer killed in 2003 after receiving blows to the head whilst she was under police interrogation in Tehran.
This new case follows other recent action taken against female journalists.
In February 2009, a total of four women journalists were abducted by a secret society that practices enforced female genital mutilation. One of the kidnapped was forced to walk naked through the streets.
A female journalist was convicted in Burma in November 2008, again in a closed court, for reportedly aiding the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Eint Khaing Oo, travelled into the devastated areas, in order to help those made homeless by the natural disaster. The 24 year-old fell foul of the authorities once she began to photograph victims made. She has received a two-year prison sentence.
The investigation into the death of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist killed in 2006, collapsed in chaos in February after the three Chechens the authorities accused of the crime were released. Conspiracy theories regarding her death still abound, although hard facts are hard to ascertain after the Kremlin closed down public information once it became clear that there was security service involvement in her assassination.
Reporters Without Borders reports that female journalists are increasingly suffering malignant attention. “More and more women journalists are the victims of murder, arrest, threats or intimidation,” the journalist rights organisation reported.
The opening up of a traditionally male-dominated profession, especially in the more dangerous assignments such as war corresponding, has brought more women into risk. Although international organisations have attempted to highlight the plight of female journalists, freedom of the press is still disregarded in many countries. Consequently, similar injustices will likely be repeated in the future unless genuine measures are taken to protect those that risk their lives to report the truth.
Welcome
Welcome to High Priests.
A new blog that looks at politics, international affairs and our elected overlords.
I plan to be quite eclectic, including both reporting and comment pieces. Please give me a bell if you wish to become involved. Thanks for reading.
A new blog that looks at politics, international affairs and our elected overlords.
I plan to be quite eclectic, including both reporting and comment pieces. Please give me a bell if you wish to become involved. Thanks for reading.
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