IRAN WATCH CANADA

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Logo of the "Association of Journalists in Iran"
Pressuring Journalists: Once Every 18 Hours
Association of Iranian Journalists Reports - 2008.10.16
Nader Irani
The latest report by the Association of Iranian Journalists describes the condition of journalism ‎in Iran by examining three factors, "the right to free publishing," "the right to have a job and ‎professional security," and "the right to judicial protection in courts for journalists," concluding ‎that these three rights were violated or undermined by government officials once every 18 hours ‎in the three summer months of 2008. ‎
The report explains the method by which it reached the conclusion of violations in the rights of ‎journalists once every 18 hours: "If the 93 days of summer are multiplied by 24 hours, the result ‎is 2232 hours. And if the resulting figure is divided by 121 cases of violating rights of ‎journalists the figure of 18 hours is the result." ‎
In other words, the referenced figure shows that compared to Spring 2008, when the ‎corresponding figure was once every 36 hours, government pressure on journalists has increased ‎by 100 percent. ‎
The report continues by noting the change of tactics in confronting the media: "the present study ‎reveals a discernible trend in the method of confrontation of the country's preventative ‎institutions against the media. On this basis, country's officials from ministers to presidential ‎advisors and governors and provincial managers have allowed themselves to issue orders to ‎journalists, thus reducing the scope of 'the right to job and professional security for journalists.'" ‎
Another part of the report, which deals with "the right to job and professional security for ‎journalists," states, "The provincial branches of the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance are ‎vastly confronting 'local press homes' (local press associations) and, as published reports show, ‎are intending to establish local press homes that support the administration parallel to the ‎existing local press homes." ‎
The report also references 43 counts of violating "the right to judicial protection in court for ‎journalists," of which 2 cases deal with verdicts issued by the jury, 3 cases deal with press ‎violations examined in court, and 6 cases deal with issued verdicts. 4 cases concern the outright ‎ban on publications placed by the Press Oversight Committee (affiliated with ministry of culture ‎and Islamic guidance). Creating additional restrictions for Emaddedin Baghi in prison and ‎sentencing Bani-Taraf to 5 years imprisonment are among reports that are discussed in the ‎section dealing with "the right to judicial protection in court for journalists."
Link to this news:
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