Following the research on Iranian newspapers and
considering if the English IRAN DAILY is the translation of IRAN from Farsi, what comes hereafter is the result of first analysis which has been done so far:
All the pieces of news, reports and analyses about the
2013 presidential election printed on IRAN newspaper in Farsi and IRAN DAILY in
English are considered and compared. The data pieces are retrieved from the
archives of these two papers available online and on their website. The pieces
of news and reports are all related to a specific period of time, i.e. 10 days,
from 7 days before election to 3 days after that. Then, through a day-to-day
comparison of headings and body of the news and the reports in both Farsi and
English, the process of translation, if any, is considered.
A. IRAN Newspaper and 2013
Presidential Election
IRAN newspaper
is the Farsi newspaper published in Iran in 32 pages and covers all aspects of
society including politics, social affairs, economics, culture, sport, cinema,
art, etc. Each page is devoted to one of the above aspects and on each page
various sections are appeared. Although the front page structure differs from
one issue to another based on the amount and also the importance of news and
reports, the general format of the front page is a combination of large, bold
headings and small headings usually in black in addition to a part or the whole
part of the body of news pieces. On most of the issues, there’s no large image
related to a specific report and there are only small images appeared beside
each frame, most of which are from special figures the heading or the quote is
related. It seems that the headings are usually picked up from the quotes of
important figures of the society. On page 2 and 3, the detailed political
issues are appeared and during some days before the presidential election,
a special page called “Toward the Epic” was added to the paper on page 29, in
which the news, reports, analyses and opinions about the election were covered.
All the pieces of news and reports related to the election were printed on the
front page, page 2, 3 and 29. After the election, the page “Toward the Epic”
was removed and for two days, another page called “Image Frame” was added to
the paper on which the images from the election and people turnout in different
sizes were put together.
IRAN newspaper is not published on Fridays as it is the
weekend in Iran; therefore, on the day of the election that was on Friday, 14
June 2013, no issue was published.
Sources of Data, the Election Issues Mostly Covered and its
Orientation
In analyzing ten issues of IRAN newspaper, published before
and after the presidential election, it was noticed that most of news pieces or
reports related to the election are derived from Islamic Republic News Agency
(IRNA), Raja News, Jahan News and in some cases from Fars News. On those pieces
which were directly reported by IRAN, there was no name of the author or
reporter and it was mentioned at the top of each piece, that it was produce,
for example, by the paper politic group.
The analysis of ten issues generally demonstrated that IRAN
newspaper has not covered the subject of the election very hot and in detailed.
On the issues before the election, most of the news and reports concentrated on
encouraging and advising people to participate in polls, mostly from the
outstanding figures of the government and religious leaders; that is completely
usual and it is considered as a method of unity in the society between the
government and people in the life of Islamic republic. Although IRAN newspaper
had tried to cover the election process, the debates, the campaigns, the
candidates’ plans and objectives in an all-aspect real neutral way, it seemed
that in most of news pieces, it was affected by the current government. It had
referred to most of the candidates criticisms against the current government as
being unfair and not appreciated. The number of news related to the reformist
was much less than those related to conservatives and fundamentalist, and it
could be seen that those issues related to the reformist candidates were not
only highlighted but also were printed on the bottom corners of the pages.
On the issues after the election, although the election
itself was considered as a unique event among Iranians and also outside the
borders of Iran, IRAN newspaper had not reflected so much surprising happiness
about the result of the election and the victory of reformists through
headings, news bodies and even images. The major news sections were circled
around praising people who participated in polls and created the political epic
and some congratulation messages from government figures and religious leaders.
B. IRAN DAILY Newspaper and 2013
Presidential Election
IRAN DAILY is
the English newspaper published in Iran mostly for foreign speakers. It is in
12 pages and covers all the aspect of society in the areas of politics,
culture, art, economics, and science in two parts of domestic news and foreign
news. It is much more colorful than IRAN in Farsi. IRAN DAILY general structure
seems more systematic than IRAN in Farsi and in all the issues considered for
this study, the structural frame was the same. On Front page, the headings
related to the most important issues and in some cases a part of the news are
also appeared, the important headings are larger than the others and the images
related to highlighted news are printed in large size too. The important
headings related to the presidential election were printed on the front page
and the whole details had come on page 2 and 3 under the National section.
Sources of Data, the Election Issues Mostly Covered and its
Orientation
After studying all the sections reported by IRAN DAILY in
English on ten issues related to before and after election, it was obvious that
the major source of news was Press TV which is an English media inside Iran.
There were also some citations from IRNA, ISNA and Fars news within the body of
the news. On most news sections, the name of author, reporter or translator was
not mentioned. It seemed that there were no clues of translation process except
for the specific quotes from people. All the news parts were in a clear and
systematic way which was easy to find what is looked for.
On the issues before the election, the election and all the
noticeable events related to that including the candidates’ plans, debates,
campaigns, etc were covered in a neutral opinion and without any orientation to
any political party. The headlines were usually bold and large and highlighted
the most important part; and, beside the important sections, an attractive
image was attached. There was also a column on left hand of page 2, on which
the most important plans, objectives and/or quotes from candidates were
highlighted and this section devoted at least one part to each candidate. The
order of presenting news from each candidate was from top to down and the order
based on the candidates’ names fairly varied in each issue.
On the issues after the election also, the results of the
election, the percentages of votes from the highest to the lowest, the images
of the candidates with a large heading stated the victory of Rouhani as the
president of Iran in the first pace were reflected. They also contained
numerous congratulation messages to the future president and special thanks to
Iranian people who created the year political epic.
C. Is IRAN DAILY a Direct
English Translation of IRAN in Farsi?
Reading through all the news sections related to the
presidential election and a one-to-one comparison of headings and bodies of
news pieces in IRAN with the English version on IRAN DAILY, shows that English
pieces of news in IRAN DAILY are not a translation from the Farsi version of
IRAN and each piece of news is derived from a report by a reporter or from
English news agencies like press TV. Through comparing both English and Persian
issues on the same day, it was cleared not only the headings are not the same,
but also each of these newspapers took different topics into account and had
different reflections on each topic.
Although the English version was shorter in length, it
covered more issues in the format of news and not political opinions.
Nice post. Any conjecture as to why the English version avoids opinion? Do you think that the English version is different simply because of editorial/journalistic laziness? (e.g. they just borrow stories from other sources without adding any additional commentary.) Is there a genuine demand for English news in Iran or is the Iran Daily merely an attempt to show the international nature of the Iranian media? How robust is the newspaper business in Iran? In many countries, there has been a dramatic decline in the popularity of newspapers because of changes in technology/media. Is this true in Iran?
ReplyDeleteIt's not fair to say that the editorial board in English version are lazy and they just borrow the news from other sources as they arrange and organize everything very neatly and it seems that all the news and reports are expressed very clearly and to-the point. However, it may be assumed that there's a deliberate strategy behind that for the foreign audience to show that the official journalism in Iran are neutral and without any orientation to a specific party (in this specific issue) and it is tried that the issues and concerns related to each party are expressed equally.
ReplyDeleteTo talk about the corruption in Iranian media and journalism is very challenging as there are a lot of arguments for and against that either inside Iran or outside the boundaries.
and for the final question, it may be said that developing in technology of news broadcasting is a recent issue even in Iran and it has been leading to a change in people's attitudes. People who specially have access to internet or TV and satellite channels tend to get most of their information from them, however, there's a huge publication of newspapers daily in Iran and there are still many people who prefer to read the news on their favorite newspaper and talk about what they have read.