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Monday, 21 February, 2000, 18:00 GMT
Print media triumphs in Iranian elections ![]() The success of reformist candidates in the Iranian polls also marks a victory in the undeclared contest between Iran's often outspoken press and its more tightly-controlled broadcast media counterparts. Iran's TV and radio outlets are under the jurisdiction of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In recent years they have remained determinedly conservative defenders of perceived Islamic orthodoxy, despite the growing demands for change in Iranian society. By contrast, Iran's flourishing newspapers come under the sway of the government and, in particular, the present Culture Minister Ayatollah Mohajerani. They have become a more accurate reflection of the mood of the nation, enabling Iran's highly politicised electorate to keep abreast of developments. Campaigning ban Despite the obvious great interest of the Iranian people in
the elections, the coverage by the broadcast media has been
low-key, almost to the point of invisibility.
Despite this, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and other conservative figures were allowed regular appearances on radio and television, leading to numerous cries of foul play from pro-reform candidates and newspapers. Some newspaper editorials forecast that the conservatives' monopoly of the broadcast media could count against them as far as the electorate was concerned because voters knew that anyone who appeared on radio and television was favoured by the conservative power holders. And when it came to announcing the results, it was left to the press to make the running. The broadcast media confined itself to announcing simple lists of successful candidates, with no televised election specials to try to explain the results to the viewing, and voting, public. Keeping it in the family Personalities from the Iranian press who backed President Khatami figured highly in the Tehran voters' favourites. High on the provisional list of successful candidates in the capital's 30 parliamentary seats was Jamileh Kadivar, the culture minister's wife, and the president's brother, Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is also the managing director of one of Iran's newest and most successful dailies Mosharekat (Participation). Another winning brother in the provisional results for the constituency of Tehran was Alireza Nouri, a previously unknown figure who was given ample space to express his views in reformist newspapers in recent weeks. He made it clear he was hoping to win the votes of his brother, Abdullah Nouri, the managing director of the banned daily Khordad, who was jailed for five years following a high profile trial by the conservative-held Special Clerical Court last November.
Another leading vote winner in Tehran, according to the
provisional results, was Hadi Khamenei, who, by contrast
with his brother, supreme leader Ali Khamenei, stands
squarely in the pro-reform camp.
Press attacks TV coverage
With the reformists taking a decisive lead in the polls,
calls for changes in the media look set to make a swift
reappearance.
In the same vein, an editorial in the English-language daily
Iran News on Monday was in self-congratulatory
mood.
"No-one can deny the negative role the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has so far played in leaving hardly any influence at all on public opinion. This medium's lack of contribution to flesh out the public zeal for their highly-active participation in the elections came too late and with ill preparation. "The political faction supporting the IRIB fared so poorly in this popular election that it verged on being catastrophic."
The paper said it was high-time that the new government
conducted a "serious reappraisal" of the role of Iran's
broadcast media.
"Rumour has it that the reformists' shattering triumph in this ... election was highly indebted to the right faction's aversion to the pen!" BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. |
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