Protests; Journalists Under the Knife Summoned and Informed by Guidance and Information

The Human Rights Campaign in Iran reports that more than eight journalists have been summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence during recent public protests, and the Ministry of Guidance has also warned a number of them about their reports and tweets.

Media inside Iran have been facing summons, threats, and warnings since the nationwide protests began in November. A journalist told the Human Rights Campaign in Iran: “Over the past week, more than eight journalists have been summoned to the Intelligence Ministry’s follow-up office, and at the same time, the Ministry of Islamic Guidance’s press office has been in contact with a number of journalists to warn them about the way they publish articles, reports, and even a few tweets on Twitter.”

The aforementioned campaign writes, citing the same source: "The journalists who have been summoned have been asked to pledge not to be active on social media about the internet outage, protests, and high gasoline prices, and to write in their media outlets within the framework of the recommendations sent to the media. They have threatened that any negative portrayal and negativity will be considered complicity with the enemy and a crime."

Another source told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that before the protests began, representatives of the Supreme National Security Council held briefing sessions with newspaper officials: “…a one-sided meeting where no discussion was allowed, and in this meeting they talked about the increase in gasoline prices, and that they were expecting protests in some areas, and that the media should operate within the framework of the information system, and other such recommendations. During this period, they also received regular calls from the press office telling them not to write provocative headlines and to write within the framework of the system, and they mostly discussed headlines, which needed to be coordinated.”

The campaign also obtained a recommendation letter issued by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance’s press office to media and newspaper managers, asking them to “not publish the reactions of institutions and individuals unrelated to the gasoline issue and to refrain from developing the topic of public gatherings into another topic.” According to this circular, media managers have been called upon to refrain from any analysis that could lead to the creation of a bipolar atmosphere in the country.

This is while the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, at the end of the same recommendation, has requested information about the government's predictions about alleviating concerns about rising prices of other goods.

A journalist told the campaign that most media colleagues do not have access to the internet and can only open the IRNA and ISNA news agencies: “What we see on the streets, like the highly secure atmosphere of Revolution Square, has no place in our newspapers. Our own observations and what is happening are different from what we have the ability and permission to write. With the slightest thing, they either call the Ministry of Intelligence or the press office of the Ministry of Guidance…”

He added that nothing is allowed to be written about the dead unless the officials themselves are interviewed: "... We are not allowed to go to hospitals and write about the wounded, the many news and rumors that exist these days. Now the internet is being freed, but we journalists are never free when we cannot work and write."

Mehdi Ahmadian, a cartoonist for the Arman Melli newspaper, also shared a cartoon he had drawn on Twitter on Saturday, November 15, and wrote that the newspaper had ordered that no cartoon centered on the high price of gasoline would be printed.

Mohammad Musaed, an economic journalist who was arrested during the protests, reviewed the low level of headlines and front-page reports in 25 newspapers across the country on the second day of the protests and wrote in a tweet: "The level of reflection of the voice of a large part of society in the media, which all receive paper subsidies, government advertising quotas, traffic plans, and dozens of other direct and indirect supports from the people, speaks volumes ..."

Moased's account has been blocked after his arrest.

The Ministry of Islamic Guidance's recommendation to the media states, among other things: "Avoid the type of protests that creates consensus and role models. News related to protests should not be at the top of the news... Do not create the impression that the gatherings are widespread... Instead of publishing urgent and numerous news items, the news should be included in a single report, and the end of the gatherings should be announced in every news item..."

A person named Sheikhzadeh, as a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, has also given recommendations to the media on how to cover news about the protests and what hashtags to use for the news.

Mojgan Jamshidi, an environmental journalist, tweeted on November 20th: “ Don’t write, don’t draw, don’t tweet, don’t ask questions, don’t talk, don’t gather, don’t stand, don’t sit, don’t block the streets, the desert, or anywhere else, don’t shout slogans, don’t hold placards, don’t strike, don’t make demands, and take into account the time and place that we never announce, go protest now. If you do, then you’re a rioter…”

The Tehran Province Journalists' Association previously criticized the briefings and policy-making sessions for news outlets in a statement, writing: "Monitoring the domestic media in the past few days shows why there is no interest in them, because the audience rightly assumes that the written media have turned a blind eye to events in society and are burying the news in such a way that, in the eyes of the audience, they are accused of censorship and covering up the truth..."

After reconnecting to the internet, journalist Yashar Soltani explained the current situation in a meaningful tweet: "The story is that Mullah Nasreddin beat his wife every day. They asked him why he beat her for no reason. He said that I can't bring her food, take her on trips, buy her clothes, or fulfill the duties of a wife, so I beat her so that she doesn't forget that I am her husband..."

Source: DW