Has the media gone too far with Iran?
Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
I have been glued to the news for almost two weeks. I am an Iranian-American journalist, and have reported from Iran many times. If you’ve ever watched the same news channel over a long period of time you realize original programming goes out the window after hour 3, ESPECIALLY, when there is a media blackout. So, what did I see all day yesterday? Neda Agha-Soltan the girl who was brutally killed in the streets of Tehran, Iran, and has since become a symbol for the protests. I won’t show you the video here, I am fairly sure you have already seen it, and if not it’s not hard to find. But, did the media go too far in showing such graphic images over and over and over again? Are they exploiting her image, because they have nothing else to show, or is it essential we see it? Also, would these images be shown, if that girl was not Neda Agha-Soltan but Mary Snow from anytown, USA. Would these images be looped if this girl was an American, killed brutally at the hands of American security forces. I want to get your opinion, maybe as an Iranian-American I am letting my heritage get in the way of my journalism…
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Yasmin. You ask an important question. I voted “No” — that the U.S. media would not show the video over and over again if it were a woman killed by U.S. forces.
I do think the media has crossed the line with the video. Sure, let us know that such a horrible event took place, tell us about her, and link us to her Facebook memorial. The video is not only unncecessary, but exploitative. What could her family possibly be thinking – would she herself have wanted her last moments on prime time? Of course not.
And if she had been American, I am certain the video would not be on CNN and likely would be also pulled off of Youtube, etc.
Good question, Yasmin. I think another one is, would the Neda footage have been so prominent if she hadn’t been an attractive young woman? Would a paunchy, balding 50-year-old Iranian man received so much attention?
She might possibly have received the same coverage if she had been an American demonstrator killed by American police in front of the White House. But not if she were an Iraqi woman killed by American troops. Conservatives would have played the “treasonous media aiding the enemy” card.
I very much agree with you on that and for once didn’t stop to think about her being “young and attractive.” It’s exactly what the US does with the Natalie Holloway’s of the world…
In response to another comment. See in context »