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Kurdish Journalists:

Opportunities and Obstacles

Afshin Ismaeli

Abstract: Iran considered as a country that has a strict censorship program in relation to

freedom of expression. According to Press Freedom Index for 2012, Iran ranked 175th out of

179 nations. In this article, particular attention was given to the Kurdish journalists as one of

the biggest minorities in Iran. This article aims to examine restrictions, extent of censorship and

opportunities of kurdish journalists in Iran and in exile. By analysis of qualitative interviews

pursued with three exiled Kurdish journalists and official documents, the article discusses the

main obstacles and opportunities to the Kurdish journalists. The aim has been to investigate

how a) Kurdish journalists become a victim of censorship and severe restriction by the

government b) exiled journalists and diasporas’ media may contribute democratization in a

totalitarian regime where press freedom and political expression are severely curtailed c)

technology can be used as a facilitator which have made citizen journalists and diasporas’

journalists more accessible to people worldwide and as an obstacle that Iranian government

through technology restricts their activities.

Introduction

Restrictions on media, culture and politics have increased since 1979 revolution in Iran.

Although, the number of TV channels, radio, newspaper and magazines increased, but dozen

of non-Islamist newspapers were banned under a new press law banning “counter revolutionary

policies and acts”( Schirazi, 1997). During the first four years of the Islamic Republic, 1,956 of

2,208 domestically produced films (both pre- and post-revolutionary) were banned. Besides,

long lists of authors like Salman Rushdie, Dan brown and Paulo Coelho, movies like Persepolis

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and Half-moon, plays as Hedda Gabler1 by Ibsen and Video games such as Battlefield has been

banned. However, the government moved quickly to ‘Islamify’ cinema, recognizing it as a

“valuable instrument that could be used to plant the seed of revolution firmly in the Iranian

mind.”2

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which is a governmental corporation, controls

media, in the theocratic state of Iran. The constitution specifies that the director of (IRIB) is

chosen every five years directly by the supreme leader of Iran and, in addition, the mass-

communication media, radio and television, must serve the diffusion of Islamic culture in

pursuit of the evolutionary course of the Islamic Revolution. .

The autocratic government’s restrictions and censorship have covered the whole country. Due

to the Kurdish past struggles with the central government in order to achieve an autonomous

region, the government implemented severe political, social, economic restriction in the region.

The governments restrictions on freedom of speech, association and assembly were more

intensified in the Kurdish regions, in the name of security and protecting the unity of the

country.3 During the last decades, many daily and weekly bilingual Persian and Kurdish

publications such as Payam-e Mardom (People’s Message), Ashti (Befriend), Aso (Horizon),

Rozhe Helat (East), Payam-e Kurdistan (Kurdistan Message), and Didgah (Viewpoint) have

been banned. Saman Rasoulpour, a human rights activist and journalist, write to human rights

watch:

In the last two years, hundreds of Kurdish citizens have detained and convicted for

working with various Kurdish parties. If “acting against national security” has become

a threadbare accusation in Tehran, in Kurdish areas activists usually face the accusation

of “working with opposition groups.” These accusations are frequently exaggerated and

mostly merely intended for building cases against people. At the current time, most

1 Reuters,"›Hedonistic› Hedda Gabler Banned at Tehran Theatre," Reuters, January 12, 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/12/us-

stage-iranban-.

2 Article 19, ed. Art and Censorship in Iran (London: Article 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression, 2006), pp. 20-21,

http://www.article19.org/

3 Human Rights Watch, “You Can Detain Anyone for Anything: Iran’s Broadening Clampdown on Independent Activisms,” January 2008

Volume 20, No. 1(E), http://hrw.org/reports/2008/iran0108/ and Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmad Batebi, New York, New York,

August 30, 2008, “Ahmadinejad’s Two Year Report Card: the Government and Civil Liberties,” Radio Farda, June 24, 2007,

http://www.radiofarda.com/Article/2007/06/24/f7_Iran_Ahmadinejad_Political_Revenue.html (Accessed September 1, 2008).

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Kurdish publications have been banned and the media environment in this area is

stagnant. A quiet like that of a cemetery rules over the media space.4

The role of journalists

Journalism plays a critical role in democratic societies. Brain McNair outlines the normative

role of journalists in democracies as a source of information, a critical scrutiny (Fourth Estate)

by monitoring the exercise of power, a mediator between citizens and politician to ensure that

the voice of public is heard and as a participant/advocate of particular political positions

(McNair, 2009 p. 238-240). In addition, this is a reciprocal contract and an agreement between

citizens and government and both sides have to respect it.

On the other hand, being a journalist in totalitarian regimes where free press does not exist is a

dangerous task. Journalism cannot cope with extreme insecurity and often violence, which

result in self – censorship at best (McQuial, 2013 p.36). For the totalitarian regimes, journalism

regarded as a potential and useful instrument to control over citizens. A look at twentieth

century history, for example in Europe, shows numerous instances in which journalism

education was used to train journalists in the service of dictatorships (Barrera & Vaz, 2003, p.

23; Fröhlich & Holtz-Bacha, 2003b, p. 198; Wilke, 1995). In variations, this instrumentalization

can be seen in many countries around the globe today, given that over half of the world’s nations

are deemed partly free or not free in terms of press freedom (Freedom House, 2006).

Accordingly, due to monopoly on means of communication and terrorizing the society, the

utilization of McNair’s normative expectations in the totalitarian states will be difficult.

Iran is an example of authoritarian government, where special law or other discriminatory

legislation expose editors to arrest and persecution (Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur

Schramm 1963). According to authoritarian theory, Journalist or any media persons should

submit to the will of the state or ruler (McQuail, 2013). Ahmadi argues that Iran are

implementing a strict control on the media, there is lack of freedom of expression and the

citizens do not have right to criticize state policies. Sometimes, an authority gives considerable

4 Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Saman Rasoulpour, November 13, 2007.

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freedom to minority thoughts and cultural issues to promote them if it does not make any threats

to authority or ruler5.

Media in Iran is under a state monopoly. The content of state-owned media in Kurdish is closely

monitored by authorities, often through translation or by other mean because most chairs and

directors of these radio and television stations are from other parts of Iran and do not speak

Kurdish (Sheyholislami, 2008), such as Sahar TV. Madih Ahmadi, a Kurdish exiled journalist

who worked for banned newspaper Aso points out:

The Kurdish minority is unfairly being treated in the media and less attention is given

to them. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has not actually worked

toward the normalization of the relationship between government and minorities and

negatively became a part of propagandas of totalitarian government.

Karl Marx argued that a free press would be expected to expose the misdeeds of autocratic

governments, hold them to account for misuse of power and give a truthful account for the

conditions of the people (Hardt, 2003). Despite the fact that press is subject to censorship in

Iran, to contribute in social and political change in Iran and particularly in the Kurdish region,

the Kurdish journalists attempted to become a tool of incredible value.

The Iranian government’s attempts to thwart the consequences of freedom of expression. In

addition, politics and freedom of press are interdependent, politics involved in the freedom of

expression and the press interfered in politics. Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is

the freedom of communication and expression through mediums including various electronic

media and published materials6. Thus, the theoretical framework of journalism law tends to be

subsumed into freedom of speech (Barendt, 2005). The freedom of press is emerged in response

to restrictions to the media.

The idea of press freedom is often assumed to be a basic foundation stone of democracy – a

necessary condition for, and a mark of, a genuine democracy (Mcquail, 2013, p.39). Probably

the most important theoretical approach to freedom of speech has argued that freedom of speech

is valuable because it preserves and promotes democracy and democratic self-government (Jack

Balkin, 2004).

5 http://communicationtheory.org/authoritarian-theory/ 6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press

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Jack Balkin believes that digital technology has plays a key role in acquaintance and teaching

journalists about the nature of freedom of speech. Additionally, it seems that increasing

prevalence in internet and mobile technology have made journalists more accessible to people

worldwide. He also argues that internet and digital technologies help journalists look at freedom

of speech from a different perspective. In addition, it is not because technologies essentially

change what freedom of speech is. Rather, it is because technologies change the social

condition, the way people speak, and these light features of freedom of speech.

Smail sharafi who is working for Kurd Channel (an exile Kurdish TV channel) believes that

Kurdish journalists have bravely endeavours to take advantage of opportunities, in order to

flourish the freedom of press and democracy. There are opportunities and obstacles for

professional dissemination of information and attempts to utilize journalistic role in the way of

Kurdish journalists who working in the country where press freedom is restricted.

Main Obstacles to the Free Press

1- political obstacles

Neo-Marxist theory portrayed established media as the informational and cultural arm of a

capitalist-bureaucratic state apparatus, with little possibility of reform or democratisation from

within (McQuail, 2013, p.46). Without free press and other civil liberties, good governance and

economic development will be undermined (Romano, 2005, p. 11).

International studies have raised awareness of the fact that the Western conception of

journalism in a free-press system does not reign supreme in many parts of the world, and may

not even be desirable in some (Hanitzsch, 2011, p.413). According to studies by Hadi Khaniki,

an Iranian professor of communications, who has studied obstacles to political development in

Iran during constitutionalism and Pahlavi periods, “concentration of power sources” and

“weakness of civil society” were two major obstacles to free press, political development and,

subsequently, to development of the Iranian press (Khaniki, 2002: p. 49).

In research conducted in 2004 in the Iranian press, showed the relationship between totalitarian

governments of Iran and nations that live in Iran. It showed that when Iran entered the new age,

the press could not act as a medium between the government and nations and, in fact, the new

phenomenon could not relieve itself from the destructive effects (Mohsenian Rad, 2006).

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In the Kurdish region, due to lack of legal political parties and institutions to support Kurdish

journalists, weak infrastructure and absence of freedom of expression, journalists have not been

able to convey their message and play their role as a monitor to exercise of state power. Sharafi

argues that the lack of political support is enough for defection of journalists and elites. The

government has always tried to depict the Kurdish issue as a threat to the unity of the country.

Therefore, the Kurdish journalists who are a part of this issue and have been treated in a security

approach. Kaveh Ghoraishi, another Kurdish journalist, claims that during the government of

reformist president Khatami (1997-2005), the Kurdish journalists temporary have got

permission, in an identified framework, to publish bilingual periodicals like Aso, Ashti and

Zrebar. During Ahmadinejad’s presidency (2005-2013) most of them ceased due to political

restrictions. Moreover, many Kurdish journalists like Adnan Hassanpour, editor of Aso

(sentenced to life prison), Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand, editor of Payam-e- Mardom have

been arrested.

As a result, the fear of being targeted by regime – either being arrested or suppressed to leave

the country – lead the journalists to self-censorship

On the other side, journalists in exile works closely with the journalists inside Iran. Journalists

inside collect information and evidence about violating human rights and oppressions, and then

deliver it to the diasporic media and foreign media where the news and information could be

reveals to the people. In order to hindering transfer and switch of information, the regime

banned most of English, oppositions websites and jammed satellite TV channels to thwart the

consequences of freedom of expression.

2- Economic Obstacles

Freedom of expression is not only restricted by political powers and states. Mcquail (2013)

believes that economic sources are other threats to freedom. He linked freedom of journalists

as primarily a matter of politics and state, and believes that financial and economic constraints

and organizational requirement also shape the prospects for autonomy of journalists (McQuail,

2013, p.208). Also, economic constraints on the press have prevented an effective, independent,

and critical form of journalism from emerging (Shafer, 1991). Within minorities like Kurds,

factors such as economy can essentially limit the role of journalists. Economic independence

of journalists empowers the autonomy of journalists and this may help to realize journalists’

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role as a promoter of cultural goals, booster the democracy and civil society and realize freedom

of expression.

The source of income plays an influential role in the way media system operates and the

consequences of journalistic role. Ghoreishi indicates that freedom of the press depends on the

social, political, and economic factors within which the media operates. The Kurdish journalists

in Iran face economic constraints. He believes that journalism in Iran is not a profession and it

could not economically support the journalists. Different factors such as instability of

journalism profession due to government interventions, made journalism a minimum wage job

in Iran.

Economic pressure may also be available by controlling the supply of essential material or

causing financial losses in other ways (Richter, 2008). Increasingly, banning of newspapers in

recent years have raised the risk of investment in this sector and thus less investors cooperate

to establish an independent and private media corporation. For the reason that most private

media corporations are not tolerated by state media competitors and in the case of banning and

suspension, authorities will not take responsibility to recompense the investors.

3- Censorship and Radio Jamming

Another obstacle to freedom of press and journalists are the way that they receive and convey

information to the public opinion. However, access to information as the right to know is widely

recognized as an affirmative concept of freedom of speech and the press (Mendel, 2008), but

the Iranian government has always tried to restrict freedom of expression, receiving and sending

information by imposing various verdicts, laws and acts to the media and journalists. State

censorship continues to preserve the stability of the country. Under the present theocratic

government, every publication and media considered anti-government and perceived as a

promoter and protector of western values of democratic process and democratic culture were

banned.

Ghoreishi claims that digital technologies and internet have changed our perspective on

freedom of speech. Internet in Kurdistan could be a good chance for the journalists’ autonomy

to transfer and switch information.

Nevertheless, the same technologies also can be used by regimes to produce ways and means

of control that can limit democratic process. Maserton (1996) believe that government

interference in editorial functioning through various forms of censorship in the name of nation-

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building and national security. For instance, Iranian government by using internet content-

control software and Radio jamming severely restricted all forms of communication. In addition

to banning satellite dishes, the government uses radio jamming to prevent satellite Kurdish TV

channels like Kurd channel, Tishk TV and other channels like BBC Persian. They are also using

Smart Filter, a content control software developed by San Jose firm Secure Computing7, that

prevent the people to open Kurdish website like Kurdistanukurd.com, kurdishmedia.com and

blocks English websites, such as New York times and Facebook8. In 2010, Reporters without

Borders labelled Iran as an “Enemy of the internet”9. Ahmadi argues that the regime uses

filtering the internet and jamming satellite TV channels as a strategy to avoid incoming

information and to thwart the consequences of freedom of expression. In addition, he mentions

that the government increasingly is utilising state-owned media to protect their regime and

assist their censorship programs.

4- Educational obstacles

Although the Iranian constitution permits, the teaching of minority literatures in school there is

no evidence that this has been implemented (Sheyholislami, 2008). The Kurdish journalists are

facing two main problems in the case of education. The first one is that journalists have not

been allowed to learn Kurdish language in school. Ghoreishi believes that the main obstacles

to the Kurdish journalists are the lack of any formal education in their native language. Besides

the ambiguity of Iranian constitution about education in native languages, the journalists still

have not been allowed to publish a newspaper or magazine properly.

The second one is despite the close monitoring and frequent closures of universities, the efforts

to promote the quality of journalism in Iran were not succeeded and journalists studying at

Iranian school of journalism lack necessary practical skills as a professional journalists (Shideh

Lalami,). In addition, journalists have not sufficient acquaintance with the nature of freedom of

speech and normative role of journalists.

Opportunities

7 OpenNet Initiative. (2006.) "Internet Filtering in Iran in 2004-2005: A Country Study". December 9, 2006. 8 Tait, Robert (December 5, 2006). "Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites". The Guardian

(London). 9 Reporters Without Borders. (2010). "Web 2.0 versus Control 2.0 - The Enemies of the Internet 2010".

November 25, 2010.

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Rights for gathering and dissemination of accurate information, which is essential in western

countries, have not been existing in third world countries such as Iran. As we mentioned above,

different reasons such as lack of laws that support journalists, absence of journalistic education,

lack of democratic space and economic support, have been hindered journalists to play their

role in the society. Under these circumstances, the Kurdish journalists have always strived to

influence their society and keep informed their audience with clear information.

Jack M. Balkin, (2004) believes that the digital revolution places freedom of speech in a new

light, just as the development of broadcast technologies of radio and television did before it.

Most of the Kurdish journalists consider the development of internet and technology as a

turning point in their life. Sharafi argues that the new media technology (blogs, websites and

social networks like Facebook and Twitter) gives journalists an opportunity to disseminate their

perspectives and views.

Technology have played a determining role in the change of manner and procedure of

journalism and it made journalists more accessible to the worldwide. In the last couple of years,

we have witnessed an explosion of blogs as well as independent news fora (like Indymedia)

which is often described as the emergence of citizen journalism (Madianou, 2009, p.333). The

rise of citizen journalism is primarily a result of technology (Kelly, 200). Ahmadi adores the

role of citizen journalism. He argues that citizen journalists, through using social networks,

media websites and exiled TV channels, have the potential to transform information to the

Kurdish diasporic media and foreign journalists that had effectively been barred. To a certain

extent, this have created opportunities to the journalists and prevented full censorship by Iranian

government. However, there will not be the same that journalists practically work in a free field.

It has also helped the opposition media in a country where democratic political communication

has been banned to contribute to a virtual public sphere and network citizen participation.

Nevertheless, some media groups have emerged in the liberated areas (Iraqi Kurdistan) and

western countries among oppositional parties. In the absence of freedom of expression, free

circulation of formation and banning of Kurdish publications, using a virtual sphere to update

audiences are the only solution. Although censoring and filtering have overshadowed these

solutions, however, it is still the best alternatives. Without doubt, electronic media and satellite

channels are a part of Kurdish media history, and because of their crucial role in fight against

the existence tyranny and dictatorship have an extraordinary position in the society.

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In addition, many western countries such as USA, UK, Germany and France launched Persian

satellite channels which providing an alternative source of information and news to state-

governed Iranian channels. Ghoreishi argues that however, launching a number of Persian

media corporations by western states and NGOs create opportunities for journalists to work

independently to a certain extent, but it does not include Kurdish journalists.

Ahmadi believes that exiled journalists have more opportunities relative to the journalists in

Iran. Journalists in exile have the freedom to express their belief and views and they can use

different media tools and technology without any government interference. Therefore, they can

indirectly through their associates convey information from inside to opposition and foreign

media and make international public opinion updated about what is going on in Iran.

Conclusion

In general, for liberal theory, journalists should constitute an independent press that informs

citizens and acts as a watchdog on government and abuses of power. Today, the liberal approach

continues to be used to justify arguments for a free press against media restrictions, such as

censorship of offensive views, and the abuse of libel laws to curtain publication (Ward, 2011,

p. 298).

The article examines the efforts of Kurdish journalists in intimidating condition journalists

worked in, to apply the normative role of press in the society and accomplishing their task in a

prescribed way. Under Iranian autocratic state, the state monopoly of the media has always been

a crucial issue affecting freedom of expression and restricted the function professional

journalism. Many factors such as political powers, economy, technology and education have a

fundamental role in restricting the role of journalists. Ahmadi argues that Kurdish journalists in

an intimidating condition and with many obstacles that exist for the free media have bravely

exercised their press responsibility. Therefore, democracy will not be true to its essential ideal

if those in power are able to manipulate the electorate by withholding information and stifling

criticism (Meiklejohn, 1948).

Ghoreishi mentions the existing associates between ‘inside-out and outside-in’ information

flows that journalists carry out are to update international community and empower the freedom

of expression and democracy in Iran. In order to hindering transfer and switch of information,

the regime banned most of English, oppositions websites and jammed satellite TV channels to

thwart the consequences of freedom of expression.

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Nevertheless, many communication scholars believe that with the progress of electronic media,

control and censorship might not restrict the flow of information any more. Technological

changes offer new opportunities for freedom of expression, present the worth of free speech

that existed in western countries to the Kurdish people, lead to create a virtual public sphere in

which enables discussing different views and perspective and at last it bring political and social

change inside the traditional society of Iran.

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