Reporting Bias

Ramin Parham, Iran-Shahr Blog:

Soviet security institutions excelled in the art, developed as early as 1920, of "curtaining the face of reality" with a "wall" of lies, add the French authors. "The most effective information combat culture of the 20th century was invented by the Kominterm. By refusing to admit the implicit superiority of their ideological enemy, Western democracies found themselves powerless in countering the influence strategies of communist networks in most Western intelligentsia ..." READ MORE

Since the 1920s, "influence strategies" have become far more sophisticated, and, in a globalized world of ideas, technologies, and finances, ... "influence strategies" have become the primary weapon of all the enemies of liberty, the doctrine that, contrary to communism, islamism, or postmodern culturalism, places the free will and responsibility of Man, and not some obscure forces emanating from History or "social classes" or "economic production relations" ... at the center of any analysis. Tocqueville, already in his time, coldly discarded what has become, in our time, one of the "essential dogma of political correctness" and "postmodernism." He simply rejected the idea that "all cultures, all philosophies, and all religions are equivalent." (2)

Since Tocqueville's time and since Kominterm, "the spontaneous coordination" (2) of intellectuals, journalists, and "experts" ... of the increasingly globalized opinion making networks of political correctness has immensely gained in "influence" and technological sophistication in what Theiard de Chardin (French paleontologist and philosopher, 1881 - 1955) called the Noosphere: the sphere of ideas (1).

An example of this phenomenon is given by the coverage of Iranian political affairs and current "elections" provided by most, if not all, major Western media. The "spontaneous coordination" brings in, side by side, Iranians and non-Iranians, and, a paradox of our time, female reporters covering the news with a positive bias towards a regime that has institutionalized gender apartheid among other forms of discriminations.

Short cuts of the pre- and post "election" coverage by the global political correctness:

"To explain the complexity of Iran, Le Monde 2 has called upon Marjan Satrapi .... author of autobiographical comics ... Marjan was raised in a family from Iran's grand bourgeoisie of the left that opposed the Shah's regime ... Settled in France, she represents all those in Iran who reject the mullahs and George W. Bush." Le Monde 2, a weekly magazine by the French daily Le Monde, June 18, 2005.

Christian Amanpoor, CNN's Chief International Reporter did not say anything fundamentally different. Reporting live from Tehran, hours after the opening of polling stations, Amanpoor qualified the "higher than expected turnout" as a popular reaction to Bush's statement a day before!

"A day before the election, Bush sharply denounced the vote, saying it was designed to keep power in the hands of the clerics. But some Iranians said they were motivated to vote to retaliate against Bush's denunciations. 'I picked Ahmadinejad [a presidential candidate] to slap America in the face,'' said Mahdi Mirmalek after attending Friday prayers at Tehran University." Kathy Gannon, AP Writer, in Guardian Unlimited, June 18, 2005.

"The second round is expected to be very open. Participation has been high at 68% ... In the northern, bourgeois, rich, and intellectual part of the city [Tehran] turnout was also high ... 'George Bush thinks that he can administer the world. But Iran is our country and it is up to us to decide what we want,' says one of the monitors of the elections representing one of the candidates." Mouna Naiim, Le Monde, June 19, 2005.

" It is a real democracy here. Each person has his point of view." Nazila Fathi and Michael Slackman, New York Times, June 18, 2005.

"George W. Bush did not miss the opportunity to underline that the islamic republic is not the model of democratization he plans for the Greater Middle East. But, the fact is that many of the regional allies of the US could ultimately be inspired by yesterday's elections in Iran." Pierre Rousselin, Le Figaro, June 18, 2005.

"The turnout of about 31 million out of about 48 million eligible voters represents a turn-out of about 65 percent, which Iran's U.N. ambassador Javad Zarif called "better than expected." CNN.com, June 18, 2005.

"[You] can pin this writing to your jacket as evidence to my glory ... [Yes] I vote." Masood Behnood, Iranian journalist writing for the BBC. The irony of this tragedy is that Behnood is also a signatory of ... the petition for a referendum!!

"The ashamed American president, who has come to power with the money of zionist looters, in his stupid predictions called your choice unjust and invalid." The "reformist" Iran daily, June 18, reporting the "supreme leader's message to the people of Iran" on the aftermath of the first round of "elections."

The battle for Iran opens the political war for democratic supremacy in the 21 century. The Iran theater is a concentrate of all battles, national, regional, strategic, and information warfare, opposing the forces that deny the centrality of Man in organizing our societies to those that place freedom above political religions and the omnipotence of state and supra-national bureaucracies.

In this jungle, we must find our friends and partners and build our own networks. CNN, the BBC, Le Monde and Le Figaro and the Iranian readers of Le Monde Diplomatique will be of no help. In the war for the supremacy of liberal democracy, political correctness and postmodern culturalism are the recipe for defeat.

(1) Cognitive Warfare: the weapon of knowledge. Charles Lavauzelle, Paris, 2002. (2) Tocqueville aujourd'hui. By Raymond Boudon. Odile Jacob editions, Paris 2005.