REFUGEE REPORTING
Tight restrictions on media freedom in their home country mean that Iranian journalists are often forced into exile. This has led to the development of numerous media outlets created by exiled journalists, catering to others in the diaspora as well as readers and listeners in Iran.
Radio Zamaneh (RZ) is an independent non-profit media outlet based in Amsterdam, which describes itself as having “a mission to act as a democratic platform for the unheard voices of Iran; that is those who are actively suppressed by the Iranian regime.”
Promoting discussion of issues related to human rights, environmentalism, minority rights and other similar topics, RZ uses content produced by dissidents and journalists inside and outside Iran. DCMF spoke to Executive Editor, Arezoo Jalali, about the radio station and its impact on Iranian refugees.
IRANIAN RADIO IN EXILE
What role does RZ play for the Iranian community in exile? Does the radio engage in activism?
RZ has developed a widespread network of over 500 contributors in Iran and the Iranian diaspora, and works with a range of prominent Iranian activists, academics, journalists and artists.
RZ has sections that specifically cover issues related to dialogue and thought, political prisoners, students, women activists, environmentalist movements, art and culture and minority rights including religious, ethnic and LGBT minorities.
By focusing on a niche audience that are following the issues of the margins, RZ facilitates the power to question and debate among its target audience. As such, RZ’s work is not activism in the more traditional sense of the word, but independent journalistic work that is invested in creating awareness on the issues of those marginalised in Iranian society.
On the main RZ platforms of the website and radio we meet international journalistic standards of impartiality, accuracy, objectivity, and public accountability while focusing on increasing public awareness on human rights issues in Iran.
RZ has been a bridge connecting the exiled community in the diaspora with the Iranian dissidents inside Iran for common cause: to cover issues related to Iranian civil society and Iranian dissidents.
Radio Zamaneh Tribune, a parallel project that runs along RZ’s main broadcasting outlets (the website and radio) is a web-based social media platform that hosts multimedia as well as textual content. RZ Tribune is dedicated to citizen reporters and activists and hosts and supports women, the LGBT community, ethnic and religious minorities as well as civil society groups by providing them with training and space to publish their content.
RZ's Persian website has been subjected to filtering and blocking for years. Nonetheless,
through circumvention tools and proxy servers, citizens of Iran have been able to visit the website, which has over 30,000 page views on a daily basis.
The RZ Tribune online community and citizen reporting website, which offers a reporting and discussion platform including digital security blogs, reaches at least 45% of its audience inside Iran and has an average of 400,000 visitors monthly.
What difficulties does reporting on Iran from outside the country pose?
RZ's target audience reaches beyond the borders of Iran into the Middle-Eastern and South-Caucasus regions and the Western Iranian Diaspora, so while Iran is the main source of concern for content production, we also produce content about and for audiences in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
In the context of Iran, the main obstacle is access to sources and journalists, particularly investigative journalists. A secondary obstacle is internet censorship and filtering by the government of Iran.
Promoting and actively working towards freedom of information forms the foundation of RZ's existence. Being exiled, RZ tries to provide and facilitate objective information, especially in areas of taboo topics or subjects that are censored by the state.
Government sponsored, online and offline threats and attacks against RZ and its journalists are challenging. RZ is perceived as a Western cultural threat, and RZ's websites are not only banned and forbidden, but also suffer from an influx of cyber attacks and hacking attempts.
RZ is constantly remodelling in order to handle security breaches. In addition, RZ works closely with organisations that provide anti-filters of various kinds to the Iranian public and we introduce these open source and free products to our audience.
Do you have challenges verifying information and getting sources?
RZ is fortunate to have gained the respect and trust of Iranian journalists who are willing to risk their freedoms under the harsh circumstances imposed by the government to work secretly with us.
In addition to the trusted sources we have inside Iran, we have access to a network of analysts who risk their freedoms and send content to RZ. We also regularly receive anonymous tips, emails and phone calls from families of political prisoners, activists and minority leaders.
The relationship between RZ and its audience is increasingly changing and adapting to the developments of new media. What once used to be the domain of professional journalists and editors, has changed by the influence of user-generated content.
RZ has been training citizen reporters through our E-Learning programme. The majority of these students are inside Iran or have recently left as political asylum seekers. RZ not only trains citizen reporters but also prepares their content to exist within the frameworks of professional journalistic standards.
How important is it to have refugee journalists telling refugee stories?
In the network of journalists, writers, artists, bloggers, bloggers and minority people who have worked with RZ from inside Iran, many have been forced to flee the country and embark on the voyage of becoming refugees.
Many of these asylum seekers have continued to work with RZ as they were awaiting placement in a host country. Many have covered issues related to refugee rights and the condition of Iranians seeking asylum in various countries.
RZ values content related to and by Iranian refugees since the very reason that asylum seekers were forced to flee Iran was because they were somehow raising objections to...restrictions on freedom of speech and violations of the basic human rights of Iranian people.
Refugee journalists do not receive priority based on status but based on the quality of the content production.
Are there added responsibilities when covering stories related to refugee issues?
There is always the concern for the security of the asylum seeker or refugee, the security of the journalist covering the issues as well as the security of all the relatives and family members living back in Iran.
RZ’s goal in covering issues related to refugees and refugee rights is to raise awareness among the general Iranian public. RZ values the content related to Iranian refugees because such content will influence the Iranian public to become actively involved in civil society to protect vulnerable groups from insecurity and persecution.
When covering issues related to Iranian refugees we try hard to focus more on the issues and avoid giving out details that can put anyone at risk, as the families of many Iranian refugees who have cooperated with Iranian media outlets outside of Iran have been pressured and persecuted by the Iranian authorities.
Online security is also of the utmost importance. Many refugees depend on online platforms for dissemination of content related to them. Through RZ’s E-learning Programs as well as RZ Tribune we have trained many internet-users on subjects related to internet security.