The common idea that Iran is a primitive country devoted to conservative Islam, doesn’t reflect the everyday lives of those who live there, but persists as a stereotype partly because it’s so dangerous to practice journalism there, a panel of experts said at a Journalism and Design panel at The New School.
The panel, held on March 14th, came after the United States reached an agreement with Iran about nuclear weapons and the Jan. 17 release of Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post foreign correspondent, who the Iranian government detained for after 545 days (15 months of imprisonment).
Omid Memarian, journalist and Iran analyst, discussed some of the typical stereotypes he’s heard from America about Iran and the reality of how the U.S. media skews our perspective of Iran by making it appear as a threat.
“We have oil,” said Memarian, “We’re hostage takers. We have good food, carpets. But Iran has also been covered as a threat [by the U.S. media].”
This stereotype persists, though not for a lack of trying. Journalists who shed light on everyday life find it difficult to collect the information they need while reporting and often it leads to arrest.
Two previous New School alumni’s, Jason Rezaian, 2001 graduate, and Kian Tajbakhsh, a urban policy and politics assistant professor from 1994-2001 at TNS, have been imprisoned overseas for “endangering national security through propaganda against the system and espionage for foreigners.”
Kian Tajbakhsh was arrested two different times, first in May 2007, but was released for five months only to be arrested again in July 2009 for espionage. From 2010 to 2016, Tajbakhsh could not teach, work or publish and had to serve under house arrest with his family in Tehran. The first Tajbakhsh has been heard from since house arrest was March 12th, where he tweeted the panel discussion and was after seen at the event on Monday night.
With high rates of imprisonment in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi, cofounder of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, explained that espionage, or spying, is used as a way for policy makers and government officials to fill their quotas. Therefore journalists are commonly arrested because of the information they have collected. Journalists are also imprisoned or exiled in order to instill fear in society for speaking out.
“The [Iranian government] always need to find someone on some association who could embody spying,” Ghaemi said.
Laura Secor, journalist and author of Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran, spoke briefly about how Iranian government officials lack a basic understanding of the job of a journalist. In particular, while Secor was reporting about an election in Iran and an official had an extremely contradictory response to her reporting.
“He said to me,’You’re here to cover an election and you’re asking people questions about the economy and politics. You’re not a journalist,’” said Secor, while the audience laughed.
According to Memarian, journalism in Iran is booming because it’s the only outlet for people to express their opinions and concerns about politics or other national issues. The policy makers and government officials believe anything that comes from the U.S. is cultural invasion.
The culture in Iran has changed a lot and continues to be influenced not only by Westerners but also by Latin-America. But according to Memarian, the lifestyle is starting to become more of a “complete lifestyle.” The trouble comes from people dressing more different than the government had anticipated.
“The meaning of the Hijab has changed,” said Memarian, “[Iran doesn’t wear the Hijab] like it’s surrounding countries anymore.”
Within Iran, student journalists who wish to write freely are either forced to leave or forced to compromise their journalism by adhering to the pressures of the government on how to report in Iran. As of 2016, three journalists have been exiled from Iran, according to CPJ.
“Journalists in Iran have to compromise…like a lot,” said Memarian, “They don’t pick up real stories in the country.”
Iran has a promising future not only because of the changes in government but also because of the culture of youths who are pushing back for what they believe in.