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Iranian state media control extends to
provinces
5.10.2006
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Newsdesk, October
5,-- Iranian government efforts to steer public
perceptions through media restrictions are not
limited to mainstream newspapers in the capital.
Provincial publications and journalists face
mounting official pressure -- especially among those
dealing with minority affairs. Official provincial
television broadcasts are changing, too, in a
campaign that coincides with a national campaign to
curb access to foreign satellite broadcasts.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's administration is
hardly an innovator in trying to limit Iranians'
access to information. During predecessor
Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami's eight years in
office, more than 100 press outlets were shut down;
there were frequent complaints regarding the
hard-line preferences of broadcast media; and, in
2003, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
used powerful transmitters in the capital to block
shortwave signals. Events at that time were mostly
connected with factional domestic disputes.
But these most recent developments could be part of
an effort to direct reporting on the nuclear
controversy and influence upcoming elections to the
Assembly of Experts and municipal councils,
scheduled for December 15.
Press closures and official persecution of
journalists occur in the outlying provinces as well
as in the capital, Tehran. Cases affecting
minorities are a particular concern for the
administration, which in the past year has seen
increasing unrest in regions inhabited by ethnic
Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, and others. Tehran
often blames such incidents on foreign agitators,
rather than trying to determine whether protesters
have genuine grievances.
A September 13 statement by Intelligence and
Security Minister Gholam Hussein Mohseni-Ejei is
typical, in which he refers to enemy plots in the
provinces.
In the northwestern Kurdish city of Sanandaj
(Kurdistan-Iran) in October 2005, the cases of three
Iranian-Kurdish journalists -- Ejlal Qavami, Said
Saedi, and Roya Tolui -- were referred to the
Revolutionary Court on the charges of acting against
national security. The three were arrested after
criticizing violent state suppression of unrest that
summer. Tolui, who was released on bail in early
2006, said she was tortured into confessing while in
jail. She escaped to the United States in early
2006.
More recently, Mohammad Sadeq Kabudvand, managing
editor of the banned weekly "Payam-i Mardom," was
summoned in mid-September to begin a jail term after
being charged with "publishing lies and articles
aimed at creating racial and tribal tension and
discord." Published in Kurdish and Persian, "Payam-i
Mardom" was distributed in the Kurdish regions of
Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan
provinces.
In southwestern Khuzestan Province, which is home to
many members of the ethnic Arab minority, the daily
"Hamsayeha" was banned in February on the grounds
that it contributed to ethnic discord and encouraged
acts that were potentially harmful to the
government.
A more recent incident occurred in the southwestern
Bushehr Province. The weekly "Nasir-i Bushehr"
reported on August 20 that the provincial
governor-general banned its correspondents from his
office. The weekly accused political hard-liners of
using any means at their disposable to criticize
former President Khatami's pro-reform administration
but being unable nowadays to "even tolerate a simple
criticism made by their own party." The weekly
accused the current administration of using
"security, judicial, and media institutions" to
block reforms.
Six journalists were arrested in northwestern Iran
in late May following demonstrations by ethnic
Azeris. Those arrested include "Ava-yi Ardabil"
Editor Vahid Daragahi, and Ali Hamed Iman, who was
writing for local publications and was managing
editor of the now-banned "Shams-i Tabriz" newspaper.
Also detained were Ali Nazari and Reza Kazemi,
editor and managing editor, respectively, of the
weekly "Araz."
In a recent report for the Century Foundation, a
public-policy research group that focuses on
challenges facing the United States, retired U.S.
Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner asserts that unrest
involving Iranian minorities should be seen in the
context of U.S. military plans. The author -- who
has taught strategy and military operations at the
National War College and elsewhere -- writes that
the United States is "trying to establish contacts
with ethnic minorities" in Iran. He takes at face
value an Iranian ambassador's claim that militants
captured in the southeast confessed to working with
the United States. The author also suggests that
"the United States is...directly involved in
supporting groups inside the Kurdish area of Iran,"
although he does not source that allegation, and he
repeats Tehran's claim that the United States shot
down Iranian military aircraft on two separate
occasions in 2006.
Recent statements by Iranian Islamic Culture and
Guidance Minister Hussein Safar-Harandi suggested
that the Iranian government harbors similar fears --
and could exploit them to justify repressive
measures against minorities, according to "Kayhan"
on September 4. Safar-Harandi claimed that Iran's
enemies "have on their agenda the creation of
tension and introduction of ethnic issues." He
argued that "the ballyhoo on ethnic issues" was
"partly supported by foreign intelligence service."
Safar-Harandi concluded that the press "would follow
the enemy's plans unwontedly" if it was "not alert."
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting has 27
provincial television networks. Minority groups
occasionally decry both the quality of the programs,
which sometimes use disparaging ethnic stereotypes,
and their quantity, saying there is insufficient use
of minority languages.
In an apparent effort to address such criticism,
Khuzestan provincial television announced in
mid-July that it would increase its Arabic-language
programming. The station's managing director said
programs were under review and audience reaction
would be gauged, provincial television reported on
July 15.
In August, the director-general of state
broadcasting's provincial news and information
department vowed that reporting from the provinces
would be improved, Khuzestan provincial television
reported on August 24. He said there should be
greater commentary and reporting from provincial
news centers.
Television has significant reach in Iran. In a
recent poll, more than 90 percent of the population
said it watched television the previous day -- that
compared with just 30 percent who listened to radio
and 31 percent who read a newspaper. More than 90
percent identified local television stations as one
of their top three news sources.
There is no private television in Iran. State
television has seven channels that broadcast
domestically, and Network 3, the Youth Network, is
believed to be the most popular because it provides
sports and light entertainment.
To get more entertainment and access something other
than the official news, many Iranians enjoy watching
satellite broadcasts -- although possession of the
equipment has been illegal since the mid-1990s.
Iran's legislature began consideration of a new bill
on satellite-reception equipment in the spring. The
draft would make producing, importing, or
distributing such equipment illegal. It would also
authorize the police and the IRGC's Basij to
confiscate the equipment, and allow the creation of
a domestic cable network that would rebroadcast
satellite programs that do not contravene what
authorities regard as "the values and principles of
the Islamic and national culture."
Confiscation of dishes in Tehran got under way in
August, and there were reports of confiscations in
provincial cities -- including Isfahan, Rasht,
Sanandaj, and Shiraz -- in July. On September 7 in
the southern city of Abadan, police announced that
they had confiscated more than 100 sets of
satellite-receiving equipment, Fars News Agency
reported.
In conjunction with these steps, the Iranian
government has made it illegal to cooperate with any
Persian-language satellite channel. The Islamic
Culture and Guidance Ministry announced that ban in
late August -- proscribing interviews,
advertisements, or any other form of participation
and warning that violators will be prosecuted.
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