Posts tagged : "Journalism"

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Iran’s Orwellian Ploy to Outlaw Citizen Journalism and Online Speech

Iran’s Orwellian Ploy to Outlaw Citizen Journalism and Online Speech

Kourosh Ziabari - Democracy in Exile: Spooked by the success of citizen journalists in revealing the magnitude of the state-sponsored crackdown on protests and the critical role of popular public figures in mobilizing grassroots activists, Iran's parliament is pursuing two pieces of legislation that boil down to a government fiat that Iranians shouldn't have public opinions and express them freely. As part of the first legislation, which is being euphemistically promoted as a "bill to criminalize the publication of news contradicting citizenship rights," the judicial commission of Iran's Majlis, or parliament, is working to codify into law a ban on publishing—both by individuals and media outlets—any news that may...

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Amid epochal uprising, journalism under attack in Iran

Amid epochal uprising, journalism under attack in Iran

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: The nationwide uprising that ensued after the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police in September added a new dimension to the global media coverage of Iran and dislodged the exclusive focus previously set on the country’s nuclear program and the stalled negotiations to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Now, the media are spotlighting the heroism of the Iranian women braving an overwhelming crackdown to reclaim their dispossessed rights, as well as the often-untold stories of ordinary citizens who are these days the protagonists of an epoch-making, dramatic struggle for freedom. These stories are being relayed to an...

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On Iran, disinformation has become the norm

On Iran, disinformation has become the norm

Kourosh Ziabari - The National Interest: More than most countries in the Middle East and West Asia, international attention is gravitating toward Iran, which has become one of the crucial news hotspots of the world. Iran is not garnering interest because of all the fancy things typically associated with it: windcatchers and Persian gardens, millennia-old castles, saffron, carpets, or poetry; rather, it is at the heart of some of the most difficult conversations around nuclear security, terrorism, and human rights. In a 2013 study, Elad Segev, an associate professor of international communication at Tel Aviv University, found that the centrality of Iran coverage in the media organizations worldwide is huge—maybe even outsized. On...

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Interview with the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian – Part 2

Interview with the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian – Part 2

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Armenia has suffered the wounds of abiding traumas over its history that still haunt the average citizen, ranging from the 1915 genocide in which nearly 1.5 million people were exterminated to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War where the small state lost large swaths of territory to Azerbaijan. Yet Armenian President Armen Sarkissian is upbeat about the country’s future, saying he believes a new generation of Armenians pushing for change can transform Armenia into a truly “global nation.” Sarkissian, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands, and who served a brief stint as prime minister between 1996-97, is also looking to the Armenian diaspora of some 7-10 million...

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Interview with the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian – Part 1

Interview with the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian – Part 1

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been a mainstay of world news. Most journalists who talk to the leaders of the two countries start their conversations by directing vexed questions about why conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave has dragged on for so long and what the future holds for relations between two neighbors whose differences seem unbridgeable. But Armenia is not all about its skirmishes with Azerbaijan. The first world country to officially adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD, Armenia is the wellspring of an ancient civilization and has fared notably well in cementing its democratic credentials. It scores better than Singapore and Malaysia in the Freedom House’s...

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A death and sinking ethics of Iran’s social media

A death and sinking ethics of Iran’s social media

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: The lifeless body of a famous young TV host was found in her apartment in the Sa’adat Abad district west of Tehran on Friday, and Iran’s social media are now awash with speculations, gossip, conspiracy theories and, lamentably, hate speech and celebrations over the mysterious death. Authorities have been considering different possibilities, including suicide and manslaughter, but investigations are still under way at this writing and nothing is confirmed conclusively. Azadeh Namdari was a 37-year-old television host who enjoyed popularity among some segments of Iranian society, particularly religious traditionalists, for her vocal advocacy of the Islamic hijab and trying to be the voice of the...

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Iran wages war on Instagram and the internet

Iran wages war on Instagram and the internet

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Iran’s hardliners are pressuring moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s government to ban popular social networking platform Instagram in their latest bid to keep Iranians disconnected from the wider world. Last week, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s 39-year-old Minister of Information and Communications Technology, was subpoenaed to the culture and media court operating under the aegis of the judiciary to defend himself over a litany of complaints. These include allegations he is defying a court order mandating that Instagram be blocked. Other suits include a complaint filed by 150 clerics that Iran’s cyberspace is ridden with “immorality,” which the minister has allegedly failed to...

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Iran’s richly funded hollow propaganda horn

Iran’s richly funded hollow propaganda horn

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: As Iranian President Hassan Rouhani squabbles with hardline parliamentarians over next year’s national budget, state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) will inevitably be richly funded despite rising public objections to its partisan reporting. A draft of the budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year, which begins on March 21, sparked an uproar over a proposed 35% year on year increase of IRIB’s budget. IRIB operates upwards of 100 local, national and international radio and television stations, and holds an absolute monopoly over media services in Iran. With satellite dishes capable of receiving international signals still officially banned and no real competition...

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What Iran should learn from Trump-Biden debate

What Iran should learn from Trump-Biden debate

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: The countdown has started for one of the most theatrical presidential contests of recent times in the United States. While the entire world is fixated on a thus far incurable pestilence that has claimed more than a million lives, even the pandemic cannot divert global attention from the showdown between two heavyweights vying for the most powerful office in the world. The race features a recalcitrant former business tycoon turned politician considered by 27% of American adults as the biggest threat to world peace, intermittently described as “racist” and “misogynist,” up against his 77-year-old rival from the Democratic Party, endorsed by his former boss, ex-president Barack Obama, as a...

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Ahmadinejad lobbies to remain relevant

Ahmadinejad lobbies to remain relevant

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: A contentious interview by the Persian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran and one of the country’s most polarizing public figures, broadcast on September 17 rekindled an almost muted debate on the ambitions and motivations of a leader whom former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had derided as a “bellicose peacock strutting on the world stage” who had “insulted the West at every point.” Nearly eight years after departing from office as the president of Iran, Ahmadinejad still harbors an unquenchable thirst for being a political celebrity dominating the headlines, entertained by the global media for his deliberately...

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The Negative Aspect of the Coronavirus Outbreak Fuels Our Interest in Crisis Reporting: Dr. Marc Owen Jones

The Negative Aspect of the Coronavirus Outbreak Fuels Our Interest in Crisis Reporting: Dr. Marc Owen Jones

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Media headlines these days are invariably dominated by developments surrounding the global outbreak of COVID-19 that first surfaced in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and was declared a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. The deadly virus, which shares many symptoms with regular influenza, has affected over 2oo countries and territories, claimed nearly 132,000 lives and has triggered unprecedented shutdowns, cancellation of events and gatherings, confined students and clerical workers to homes and prompted many governments to impose national quarantines. SARS-CoV-2 is the name given to the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 is the disease associated with...

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Life after Chevening: the feeling of being an alumnus

Life after Chevening: the feeling of being an alumnus

Kourosh Ziabari - Chevening.org: Winning a Chevening Award to study a master’s degree in the UK is a dream come true and an impressive accolade. We are hand-picked because of our potential as future leaders and decision-makers. Those who are successful in winning a Chevening Award and finishing their degree should be looked for in the headlines and in high positions in their respective countries or international organisations. Just recently a Chevening Alumnus Carlos Alvarado Quesada was elected as President of Costa Rica. For me—an Iranian journalist and reporter—winning a Chevening Award was a tremendous achievement; something I had been dreaming of since my early years. I clearly remember writing a blog entry when I was...

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