Journalists Wary of the Future

Roozonline:

Throughout the past eight years of the reform government's rule, Iranian journalism has experienced many ups and downs, but most in the trade would agree that much ground has been gained and many important lessons learned. Now journalists, more than any other group and ahead of the rest of society, are casting a wary eye toward the future.

Journalism in Iran both in terms of quality and quantity underwent such a significant change that the number of students wanting to enroll in programs and universities offering degrees increased manifold. READ MORE

The demand for broadcast media and journalism increased so much that the government committee overseeing media met almost weekly in the past eight years and issued some 2167 licenses for publications. This trend of course slowed down as the political climate became more constricted and multiple news outlets were shut down, adding journalists to the list of unemployed.

Journalists, however, became accustomed to the newspaper closures and adapted. When one paper was shut down, two more sprouted to replace it. But now it seems that conditions have changed. In the words of a successful veteran journalist, journalism in Iran is in danger.

Journalists, whether employed or laid off due to their paper's closure, agree the future looks bleak for their profession. Those working at private papers worry about being shut down while those bankrolled by the government, like Hamshahri and Iran, await shake-ups in their management staff and dictates from the right leaning government.

What fuels these concerns the most is the close affinity between those who recently won elections and the already entrenched conservative judiciary. The judiciary had been carrying out the closure of publications and prosecution of bloggers, and now with the election of Ahmadinejad, it will exert even more dominance.

Just last week, the newspaper Eghbal was shut down. Eghbal was the only paper aligned with the Participation party which endorsed Mostafa Moin for president. Two other papers holding similar views were recently shut down unceremoniously on orders of Saeed Mortazavi without any pretense of adjudication. Vahid Pourostad, who has spent a number of years working for reformist papers, has already resigned himself to the prospect of having no employment for the next four years.

But some still hold out hope. Gisou Feghfouri and Ali Seidabadi, a journalist couple, has written in their blog: "A friend passed by yesterday and reminded us of last week's three major setbacks, Moin's election defeat, the closing of Eghbal, and Rafsanjani's loss. First I was discouraged by the reminder but then I told myself these are small setbacks and already forgotten. I am still optimistic about the future because we will change it."

These days concern for broadcast media also abounds. Media outlets that had begun work in cyberspace during Khatami's administration now face an uncertain future. The activities of cultural and tourism networks such as Kar have been seriously curtailed and are now searching for private funding.

Hearing such accounts and anticipating an increasingly repressive climate for Iranian journalism, many young reporters are thinking about continuing their education abroad and more seasoned reporters are considering early retirement.

Yet quite a few journalists still believe that the reformist movement has made lasting inroads which will prevent the autocrats from completely controlling the dissemination of news in Iran. So the main question remains unanswered - given the uncertainties ahead will Iran's still nascent journalism continue it's growth in another four years?