How Arab Media Is Covering Iran

Sipa / AP Photo As democratic media back Iran's opposition, it’s a different story in authoritarian regimes. Salameh Nematt reports on journalists remaining in Iran and the overall political news war.

Plus, read more insight on Iran's election from other Daily Beast writers.

The post-election uprising in Iran is receiving near-saturation media coverage in the U.S. and throughout the world, with most of the Western media showing sympathy with the pro-reform popular movement that is putting up the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic since the revolution that toppled the shah in 1979.

But the picture looks different in the Middle East and the Persian/Arabian Gulf region. The Arabic-language satellite-TV channel Al Jazeera, the most influential channel in the Arab world, continues to offer support for the “reinstalled” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the ruling establishment, against rival reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters.

Foreign journalists are now allowed to continue work in their offices and hotel rooms, but they cannot go out and do any interviews.

In an interview aired yesterday, Al Jazeera’s anchor asked an aide to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who supports Mousavi, whether it was wise to support Mousavi and risk being accused of treason and collaboration with the West. He was implying that supporting reform and democracy would label the Iranian opposition as pro-Western, and thus, treason!

This is perhaps why the Qatari government-run and controlled Al Jazeera was allowed to continue work in Iran, while its rival satellite channel, Al Arabiya, was banned. Qatar, home of the largest American military base in the world, is also Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world.

In Syria, another pro-Iran dictatorship, the media was on the side of the government and squarely against the protesters, whom the Tishrin newspaper described as “a fifth column” supported by the West against the popular government.

On Tuesday, Iran banned foreign media from covering protests, a day after the dubious presidential elections ignited deadly clashes. Well-placed sources told me there were six other fatalities among the demonstrators, some of whom were killed by Basij pro-government militia, that Iranian authorities are not reporting. But it was hard to verify the information at the time of writing.

According to various sources, foreign journalists are now allowed to continue work in their offices and hotel rooms, but they cannot go out and do any interviews as the authorities were revoking press accreditation of all foreign media, including Iranians working for the foreign press.

A reporter for the Swedish SVT network had been asked to leave Iran immediately, according to a spokesperson for the network, while Dubai-based Al Arabiya said its correspondent in Tehran was told by Iranian officials that its office would be closed for a week.

In addition to restricting foreign correspondents, Iran also blocked access to certain online communications tools, including filtering out Internet traffic for Twitter and Facebook.

The prominent pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat noted an escalation in the protests, especially in Tehran, while the international Asharq Al-Awsat Arab newspaper saw hints of a “counter-revolution” brewing in the streets of Iran.

Iranian bloggers are posting pictures and videos of protesters being attacked by Iranian police, and these are being distributed online all over the world.

The following video shows an Iranian youth being beaten up and dragged through the streets: