U.S. – Iran Standoff ‘09 – Journalists on the front

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/war-zone-2-journalist-cartoon.jpg

When I saw the article on the reporter Roxana Saberi this morning, it seemed destined for our blog…. And serves as a springboard to a discussion of how personal problems become those of state and country.  The stories vary slightly, but in the end, all of the major propaganda networks provide something close to the same thing: an Iranian American has been jailed for 8 years for “spying” in Iran. 

Where the story becomes interesting is how various versions try to appeal to different masses, while also satisfying governmental needs. The networks invariably mention that the secrecy and lack of information coming from the oppressive Iranian state, meant to contrast with that one would see in the “free” world.  Furthermore, depending on the article, it is interesting to note how each news agency helps the reader take ownership over this poor journalist who is at the center of it all.

For example, the BBC article tells us that she is both educated at Northwestern and Cambridge, and, furthermore, she is going on a hunger strike… She has thus been elevated to the status of British elite via her education, and furthermore equated to the most famous protestor to the British Empire, Gandhi, through her method of protest to the sentence.

Al Jazeera, furthermore, takes care to note that she has worked for the BBC, NPR, and Fox News in her reporting career, apparently to demonstrate that she reports mostly for western news…  Also, it is the only article to note that there have already been calls by the U.S. government for her release prior to sentencing.

Fox and the WSJ both focus on defending Saberi as an American and have patriotic undertones that help to accentuate the “us vs. them” relationship represented by the conflict.  

Regardless, the story serves as a constant reminder of the power of the media in current world affairs and the degree to which a journalist can come to represent the relationships between 

states.  It also seems to be eerily similar to the current detention of journalists in North Korea.

Fox

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517041,00.html

Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124005279095031897.html#mod=whats_news_free?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8005660.stm

Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/200941895439716470.html

AP on North Korea

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hM96sRn69bkN1XDLqb2_pkmFxqdgD979F7J80