Iran Continues its Media Battle

Joanne Faulkner

Editor ( Asia: Middle East & Central)

 

TEHRAN – Reforms in Iran took a hit this week following the arrest of Saeed Pourazizi, the editor of  daily reformist newspaper, Bahar ( which means spring), and the subsequent shut down of the publication. According to his wife, Mr. Pourazizi was arrested by authorities after his article was deemed offensive by the Shia Islam regime in which Mr.Pourazizi is believed to have raised questions about their believes in the prophet Muhammad.

Although the paper published a subsequent retraction stating that the article was “an unintentional mistake”, the paper had been previously warned about its content.  This case is not the first time that government in Iran has taken serious action against those who fail to toe the line of tolerated views and opinions.

Culture Minister Ali Janati described this event and described the offending article as “fomenting religious conflicts”.

This is the first publication to be banned since President Rouhani took charge in June. In the political spectrum, Mr.Rouhani is considered a moderate leader. During his election campaign he pledged greater social freedom and said he would create a ‘civil rights charter’, which made him particular popular with young voters; after his election pro-reformist slogans were chanted on the street. The handful of reformist dailies that circulate in Iran have only just resumed publication following a ban of several years.

Iran is a repeat offender in its treatment of journalists and restriction of freedom of expression; censorship of content is rife as authorities do not accept those articles which serve to undermine government or those it deems ‘anti-revolutionary’.  Prior to the election this year, 14 journalists were arrested, many of which were doing work for foreign organisations, an indication of the lack of voices tolerated by political powers in Iran and an apparent warning to others; journalists are often warned against working for foreign organisations.

Iran has long since been weary of foreign media and news narrative, and in the context of the Arab Spring, perhaps it has right to be cautious of the variety of voice emerging despite  the government’s best efforts. In the past, Iran had be known to loosen up its restrictions on journalists prior to elections  so that those outside will see a legitimate authority, but this recent deterring action is evidence of a downward spiral. It is also interesting to bear in mind that this tight control of print media takes place in the context of many Iranian ministers now using Facebook and Twitter, despite most of the country not being able to access the sites themselves.

Image Courtesy: http://www.rouhani.ir/ Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic license..| Wiki Commons