Iran: Can Its Stories Be Told?

In the Summer 2009 Nieman Reports, the spotlight turns to Iran with firsthand accounts of how difficult and dangerous it can be to try to tell its stories. Iranian and Western journalists write of their experiences as they’ve confronted intimidation, threats, jail and exile in pursuit of stories of this nation and its people. Contained in these dispatches are threads of risk and courage—providing an excellent accompaniment to the essays written for our earlier issue: Journalists: On The Subject of Courage.

‘We Know Where You Live’ Working for a Western magazine in Iran, a journalist finds that he has acquired some surprisingly close acquaintances—from the ministry of intelligence. And strangely, they are all called Mr. Mohammadi. By Maziar Bahari
A Visual Witness to Iran’s Revolution An Essay in Words and Photographs By Reza
Imprisoning Journalists Silences Others While most Iranian journalists have to operate with extreme caution, foreign journalists can be more frank on the issues they face in Iran. By D. Parvaz
Iranian Journalist: A Job With Few Options After working for more than a decade at the now banned Iranian magazine Zanan, a journalist now in the United States describes her feelings of identity, location and loss. By Roza Eftekhari
Journalism in a Semi-Despotic Society 'Censorship, low payment, and the high risk of arrest for any journalist who dares to take an investigative step, among other reasons such as lack of individual liberty, have pushed Iranian journalists to the virtual world of the Internet.' By Byline Withheld
No Man’s Land Inside an Iranian Police Station When Iran held a U.S. reporter, an American television correspondent recalled her own brief arrest by Iranian police. By Martha Raddatz
Peering Inside Contemporary Iran An Essay in Words and Photographs By Iason Athanasiadis
Telling the Stories of Iranian Women’s Lives ‘Anyone who did research on women’s issues benefitted from hundreds of articles, stories and interviews that were featured in Zanan.’ By Shahla Sherkat
Understanding Iran: Reporters Who Do Are Exiled, Pressured or Jailed ‘Roxana’s work consistently gave the lie to the narrative of a monolithic Islamic Republic.’ By Iason Athanasiadis
When Eyes Get Averted: The Consequences of Misplaced Reporting ‘Poor reporting from and about Iran has kept the West in the dark. In this lightlessness, Iranians are rendered as ghosts.’ By Roya Hakakian
Your Eyes Say That You Have Cried ‘Today’s generation of Iranian women reporters are doing big things. Their mark will be left on history.’ By Masoud Behnoud