How Do We Cover Iran Better in the News? Include 麻豆社事件 Iranians

There鈥檚 been a push in almost every newsroom across the country for diversity, but will Iranians be invited to the table amidst future conflicts?

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When I was growing up, my father would often yell at me, 鈥淢iko shah-med,鈥� whenever he was angry with me. It literally translates to, 鈥淚 will kill you,鈥� from Farsi, the language Iranians speak.

It sounds harsh. But translate that to American English, and it鈥檚 more akin to, 鈥淕et outta鈥� here!鈥�

Last Sunday, days after President Donald Trump 听that assassinated听, I sat down at my local bar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and watched as cable news networks and national papers reported on the Iranian Parliament screaming, 鈥淢arg bar Amrika,鈥� or 鈥淒eath to America,鈥� as it鈥檚 literally translated.听

USA Today of the chant听online without any explanation. And as the video lingered on, it almost seemed scary鈥擨ranians wanted to kill Americans!

But language is nuanced. In Iran, people view governments separate from the population. And referring to someone鈥檚 death (as noted above) is not always exactly what it seems. So, translate 鈥淢arg bar Amrika,鈥� to American English, and it should be better understood as, 鈥淪hame on the American government.鈥�

As I watched the news that night, though, no one could give that context.

For the past week, Iran has dominated the news cycle. There has been a spate of media panels discussing what this means for Americans and our presence in the Middle East, and social media went rogue declaring this as the beginning of World War III. But while the news has been heavily centered on foreign policy in Iran and what it means for its people along with Americans, there has been a noticeable void in the conversation: the voice of Iranians who could give historical and cultural perspectives of the conflict.

Even one of the more prominent voices on Iranian coverage for Iranian-Americans鈥斺€攊s sorely lacking in using Iranian voices (though,听as听, the coverage has as of late become more partisan than in previous years).听

So, instead of trying to understand why people in Iran鈥攅ven those who loathed the current government鈥�, some outlets reported on Iranian-Americans鈥� perceptions, almost monolithically, as听. Instead of news hosts giving a historically nuanced picture of America鈥檚 long-established, yet underreported, interference in Iran鈥檚 independence鈥斺€攖here were those who offered only a cursory analysis of the U.S.-Iran conflict.听

And since听 to downing a passenger jet the night of a retaliatory missile strike on American bases in Iraq, there鈥檚 been even more confusion on Iranians鈥� perceptions. Many pundits wondered how citizens mourned a military leader鈥檚 assassination one day, then denounced their own government the next.听

An Iranian woman holds a placard reading in Farsi “Your mistake was unintentional, your lie was intentional” during a demonstration outside Tehran’s Amirkabir University on Jan. 11, 2020. Demonstrations broke out for a second night in a row after Iran admitted to having shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet by mistake on January 8, killing all 176 people on board. Photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images.

Quite simply, it鈥檚 because Americans aren鈥檛 getting a full picture of Iranian people. For example, without historical context, viewers wouldn鈥檛 know that the same听听in the country are also deeply patriotic, but want to handle Iran鈥檚 issues themselves.听

All of those nuances in culture and history could鈥檝e been explained, had outlets used more Iranian voices, said Hoda Katebi, an Iranian-American writer and social justice activist in Los Angeles.

鈥淭he U.S. media loves to exclude people who they鈥檙e talking about,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e see this throughout the history of journalism. The people who are being affected are not being represented. Right now, we鈥檙e at an all-hands-on-deck moment, there鈥檚 no reason to say you can鈥檛 find an Iranian person.鈥�

A History of Leaving Out Voices of Color

This is not a new problem for U.S. newsrooms. Though representation for people of color has been something of a hotly debated topic over the past decade in newspapers and digital outlets, there historically has been鈥攁nd continues to be鈥攊ssues with poor representation of diverse communities in American media.听

The Kerner Commission, established by President Johnson to look at race problems in America, was one of the first to point out the problems in coverage and 听the plight of Black Americans and their conditions.听

鈥淏y and large, news organizations have failed to communicate to both their black and white audiences a sense of the problems America faces and the sources of potential solutions,鈥� the report said.

Since then, nonprofit news organizations and philanthropy groups have spent millions of dollars in hiring initiatives to diversify the media. In just one of dozens of examples from last year, the Knight Foundation and Maynard Institute gave $1.2 million to newsrooms to diversify their ranks.

And there is continued need for that, as we saw this past week with the level of misinformation coming out of American media on what was happening in the Iranian Parliament in regard to the nuclear deal to limit nuclear power in the country. When Iranian media reported that the country was stepping away from the deal, American media ran the story, attempting to work off word-to-word translations.

Turns out, that鈥檚 not what really happened, said Melissa Etehad, an Iranian-American reporter covering Iran for the Los Angeles Times.

鈥淭he nuance of culture and language plays a really important role, and translating things that we see in Iranian media is a really difficult thing, even for second-generation journalists, like myself,鈥� Etehad said. 鈥淭here seems to be several layers removed from how American outlets are interpreting things.鈥�

A Push for Diversity in Coverage

Still, hiring as a solution has its problems. Kathleen McElroy from the University of Texas in Austin, for example, wrote for Poynter that . Journalists who work at media companies that have focused on diversity already see the benefits through better reported stories.听

At AJ+, the digital and youth-forward American presence for Al Jazeera News, using more diverse voices has helped its ability to tell richer narratives, said Yara Elmjouie, an Iranian-American producer who reports on culture and food.

鈥淏eing a member of that community, it exposes you to insight that people outside the community could never, ever have. It leads you down a rabbit hole,鈥� he said.

But it鈥檚 not just getting newsrooms to hire more diverse reporters, it鈥檚 also making sure to include more voices in the coverage, which also is a problem.

This week, Ben Casselman from The听New York听Times听published a lengthy Twitter thread on how he tracked the race and gender of his sources, and听.听

When it comes to coverage on issues of Iran or Middle Eastern countries, though, that shouldn鈥檛 be an issue. Yet, it is, argues Mana Mostatabi, communications director for the National Iranian American Council, the nation鈥檚 largest organization representing Iranian-Americans. She said that for the past week, getting news organizations to contact her for expert sources has been nearly impossible.

鈥淚 should never have to beg and plead for the media to come to us,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he fact that I have to鈥攊n my planning鈥攁ctively pursue bookers to say we exist and we are here, that鈥檚 a problem. They鈥檙e not reaching out.鈥�

But there is an expectation among other Iranian-American reporters that we can ride this wave of inclusion in newsrooms, even if it hasn鈥檛 been directly targeted at us.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a more general push for diversity, generally, than Iranians and other people of Middle Eastern backgrounds, specifically, but we鈥檝e benefited from it,鈥� said Ramtin Arablouei, co-host of NPR鈥檚 Throughline podcast, adding that without more Iranian-Americans in newsrooms, Americans are the ones that truly lose.

鈥淪yria, Iran, Iraq鈥攖hese coverage areas are not going away and will only become more prevalent in American news,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ithout an Iranian to parse out information鈥攚ho truly understands that identity鈥攖he American consumer is not getting the story. And their opinions and voting habits will be swayed in a direction that is misinformed.鈥�

Joseph Darius Jaafari is a staff writer for the PA Post. His work covering crime, the military, and LGBTQ issues has been featured in The Marshall Project, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. He is a graduate of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has produced for VICE and The New York Post.

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