Iran News Media

This semester the Middle East has seen an ordeal of unrest and revolts. It started in Tunisia on Jan. 14 and spread like wildfire through many other Middle Eastern and Northern African (MENA) countries. Due to this unrest, the global media has kept its eye on all MENA countries. The media’s watchful examination on the region has brought about an important question: How is the media influencing their citizens? While keeping this question in mind, I took a look into the media in Iran.

Iran was not a large participant in the MENA unrests and calls for reform, and speculation can’t help but rise if it’s due to the information distribution. In order to evaluate the media structure in Iran, the knowledge that government is an extremely influential body in every aspect of life must be regarded.

The press in Iran is considered “relatively free,” even though every news publication is government owned. This means that although there is an overwhelming civilian want for newspapers to be more transparent, the papers are pressured to stay in line with the ideals of the government; if they don’t, there are severe consequences. The Internet in Iran is also relatively free. Although websites have been blocked in the past, the future looks bright for Iranian Internet use. The overwhelming majority of Internet users in Iran, roughly 43% of the population, enjoy the same type of websites as Americans do in the United States including blogging sites, Facebook and Google. As far as telecommunications is concerned, Iran ranks 29 in cell phone usage worldwide. This number is continually growing as the population increases.

Media censorship in Iran is tightly controlled. In the MENA scope of nations, Iran ranks second to worst in most censored and according to the Press Freedom Index, out of 178 nations, Iran ranks 175 in most censored. This is not shocking considering the government, being an Islamic Republic, wants to control the output of media. It is easy to detect the strict censorship in news articles such as the 2009 presidential election articles and the more recent killing of Osama Bin Laden.

One part of the media that is detectable in other nations is conglomerations. The United States and many other nations are filled with the; however, when looking into Iran’s media there is not one. Because the media is completely government operated, there is no room for conglomeration. The closest thing the media has to conglomeration is the two large news agencies that control all aspects of the news- from radio to print. IRIB and the IRNA are the two large media “conglomerates” that act as the censored mouthpieces for the government.

Globalization has affected many nations, including Iran. Iran’s population is majorly Islamic, and due to their religious affiliation, the civilians have strict and morals and values. These values transfer into daily activities. There hasn’t been much change in the older generations of the adult population as far as how they interact daily, but the young adult population has taken new products to heart. The young adults are the majority of Internet and telecommunication users, and value their right to use the tools of blogging and Face-booking. The youth of the nation hasn’t gotten as into Wii and computer gaming as other nations have. They still interact with each other to play soccer and go to school.

In looking back at the unrest and rebellions that took place at the start of the semester, it is clear to see why it didn’t flood effectively in Iran. The answer is simple: government censorship and control. The media structure in Iran is nearly the most censored in the world, and although it may be considered “relatively free” on paper, in reality and in comparison with other nations, it’s not at all.