At such a tense time in relations between Iran and the United States, it's important for both sides to gain a deep understanding of what's really taking place on the ground. Is the image Americans have of Iran a full and accurate one? And do Iranians have access to reliable information on the US? At a panel discussion at George Washington University, a group of Iranian experts discussed media coverage of both countries, highlighting misperceptions and misunderstandings.

(Washington, D.C.) – Many in the West view Iran as a closed society where information is highly regulated by the country’s Islamic regime. But in reality, Iranians are sophisticated and eager consumers of news who find ways to get around the limits their government puts on media, according to Iranian journalists and academics who took part in a panel discussion co-sponsored by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs.

Joining ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan for the discussion at GW’s Jack Morton Auditorium were Majid Joneidi, a producer for the BBC’s Persian Service in Washington; Dr. Ahmad Karimi Hakkak, professor and founding director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Persian Studies; and Babak Yektafar, editor in chief of the weekly Washington Prism, an online journal in Persian and English.

Iranians have “an amazing hunger for world news,” Yektafar said. Because they are used to an environment of government censorship, Hakkak added, they are also “adept at reading between the lines” and figuring out the nuances between what government sources say and what they hear from other sources, such as satellite television and radio programming.

“They want neutral sources of news,” Joneidi said; if the issue is U.S.-Iran relations, for example, Iranians will seek out news from the BBC or other European sources.

The Internet is becoming another key source of news and opinion for Iranians. As Barnathan noted in her introduction, Persian is the third most-used language on the Web, behind English and Chinese, and there are an estimated 75,000 Persian-language blogs.

The panel featured (from left) moderator Joyce Barnathan, President, International Center for Journalists; Majid Joneidi, Producer, the BBC’s Persian Service in Washington; Babak Yektafar, Editor-in-Chief, Washington Prism, an online journal in Persian and English; and Dr. Ahmad Karimi Hakkak, Professor and Founding Director, University of Maryland’s Center for Persian Studies;

There is a “cat-and-mouse game,” as Yektafar described it, between the government and the people over access to information. He cited the example of satellite dishes, which are officially banned but can be seen everywhere on the rooftops of homes in Tehran; at his relatives’ home, he said, there are seven satellite dishes for three families. Print media may face harsher crackdowns, he said, but a newspaper that is ordered to close often reappears under a different name just days later.

U.S. media reporting on Iran tends to miss or glosses over these realities, the panelists said, while European media is often better able to distinguish between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people.

“When Iran is being mentioned [in the news], I ask, which Iran? The one of Ahmadinejad or the one of men and women under 30?” Hakkak said. “An American journalist often goes to Iran to see contrast. So the excesses in both societies are emphasized.”

Yektafar added that although some American journalists have traveled to the country and done good stories, others have painted a limited picture. “You can’t really cover Iran that well unless you live there,” he said.

Americans may be increasingly concerned by the heated rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the panelists noted that he is not necessarily representative of public opinion at home. Criticism of his conduct of foreign affairs and failure to address economic issues – a major concern of average Iranians – is growing, and “people are speaking very freely,” Joneidi said.

And those in the West should not assume that the Iranian political system is inferior. “It is debatable whether Iran is a theocracy. But it does have a stable electoral system. No democracy is perfect,” Hakkak said. “[Iranians] are learning the language of speaking truth to power. Democracy as a process is well under way.”

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