Shutting the Information Outlets
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The recent long directive by Iran’s National Security Council to the media instructs them on how to write various domestic and international news reports. Such a directive has no precedence during the last 30 years and is thus a sad return to dictatorship whose difference aspects call for analysis.
Iranian officials who dictate such rules for the country’s media have probably forgotten the fate of the Shah and his regime. Many documents pertaining to the years prior to the 1979 revolution remain and clearly show that when the Shah learned of the irreversibility of the revolution there was nothing he could do to calm things down.
But why did the Shah arrive at such a situation? The answer is clear: During the Pahlavi regime, censorship was so entrenched in the country’s media that instructions were sent to the media on a daily basis, finally leading to a situation where SAVAK (the state security agency) had representative in the national radio, television and newspapers who controlled the headlines. The media had become so void of any criticism that the only person they really deceived was the Shah. By reading the censored news of the time, the Shah had come to believe that his opponents were merely a bunch of terrorists all of whom were behind bars. He had come to believe that his enemies had relations with Western oil companies or were in contact with Soviet spy agencies and worked on their orders. He had come to believe that all international human rights organizations were associates of his enemies. According to existing documents, things were such that since 1976 the Shah had instructed not to receive the confidential Imperial Inspectorate reports because, in the words of the Minister of the Court, they contained negative points that made him angry.
The Shah’s practices were identical to those of the current Supreme National Security Council which expects the media to observe the various instructions it sends them so that nothing that may be of serious concern about the situation in the country be published.
The results of these practices are such that, for example, according to the official government newspaper Iran, the President has stressed that “Iran today is the number one power in world” and that the critics of his administration are nothing but propaganda of the country’s enemies. He has further said, “There are always people who exaggerate the power of the enemy and even ignore their own confessions of defeat. But today, everybody knows what the truth is.”
Under such censorship conditions dominating the country, the President easily makes any claims he desires and is not even accountable to explain anything to the public, including the basis on which such blown up claims are made. Is it not right to ask him what source considers Iran as the number one power in the world? If some poor or wealthy country, or perhaps some middle men in some foreign bank or company, or even an official in a country that aims to get oil at some discount rate makes such strange and bizarre claims to some naïve Iranian authorities to make them happy, does this a good reason for the president of the country to publicly announce that “Everybody now has learned that “Iran has turned into the number one power of the world?”
Those who desire to rule through the control of the flow of information, will not only fail in the long run to hide information from the public, but will even keep the authorities further from the truth. Such a situation is foremost dangerous for the regime itself. Iran’s rulers should not forget the fate of the Shah.
The recent long directive by Iran’s National Security Council to the media instructs them on how to write various domestic and international news reports. Such a directive has no precedence during the last 30 years and is thus a sad return to dictatorship whose difference aspects call for analysis.
Iranian officials who dictate such rules for the country’s media have probably forgotten the fate of the Shah and his regime. Many documents pertaining to the years prior to the 1979 revolution remain and clearly show that when the Shah learned of the irreversibility of the revolution there was nothing he could do to calm things down.
But why did the Shah arrive at such a situation? The answer is clear: During the Pahlavi regime, censorship was so entrenched in the country’s media that instructions were sent to the media on a daily basis, finally leading to a situation where SAVAK (the state security agency) had representative in the national radio, television and newspapers who controlled the headlines. The media had become so void of any criticism that the only person they really deceived was the Shah. By reading the censored news of the time, the Shah had come to believe that his opponents were merely a bunch of terrorists all of whom were behind bars. He had come to believe that his enemies had relations with Western oil companies or were in contact with Soviet spy agencies and worked on their orders. He had come to believe that all international human rights organizations were associates of his enemies. According to existing documents, things were such that since 1976 the Shah had instructed not to receive the confidential Imperial Inspectorate reports because, in the words of the Minister of the Court, they contained negative points that made him angry.
The Shah’s practices were identical to those of the current Supreme National Security Council which expects the media to observe the various instructions it sends them so that nothing that may be of serious concern about the situation in the country be published.
The results of these practices are such that, for example, according to the official government newspaper Iran, the President has stressed that “Iran today is the number one power in world” and that the critics of his administration are nothing but propaganda of the country’s enemies. He has further said, “There are always people who exaggerate the power of the enemy and even ignore their own confessions of defeat. But today, everybody knows what the truth is.”
Under such censorship conditions dominating the country, the President easily makes any claims he desires and is not even accountable to explain anything to the public, including the basis on which such blown up claims are made. Is it not right to ask him what source considers Iran as the number one power in the world? If some poor or wealthy country, or perhaps some middle men in some foreign bank or company, or even an official in a country that aims to get oil at some discount rate makes such strange and bizarre claims to some naïve Iranian authorities to make them happy, does this a good reason for the president of the country to publicly announce that “Everybody now has learned that “Iran has turned into the number one power of the world?”
Those who desire to rule through the control of the flow of information, will not only fail in the long run to hide information from the public, but will even keep the authorities further from the truth. Such a situation is foremost dangerous for the regime itself. Iran’s rulers should not forget the fate of the Shah.
posted by masoudbehnoud at 5:33 PM
