CNN, You should be ashamed
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford42 Iranian professionals recently posted on iranian.com a very moving open letter, which lists reasons that they are ashamed at the treatment of the Baha'is in Iran over the past century. Here is a brief excerpt:
We are ashamed that in addition to the intense suppression of Baha'is during its formative decades, the last century also witnessed periodic episodes of persecution of this group of our countrymen, in which their homes and businesses were set on fire, and their lives, property and families were subjected to brutal persecution - but all the while, the intellectual community of Iran remained silent...
We, the undersigned, asked you, the Baha'is, to forgive us for the wrongs committed against the Baha'i community of Iran.
We will no longer be silent when injustice is visited upon you.
As the letter suggests, its significance lies in the collective silence that has long accompanied the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran. Secular intellectuals in Iran have perpetuated their own insidious prejudices against the Baha'is, reinforcing the theological justifications for their persecution. In this context, it is disheartening to note the tone of a CNN report of the open letter:
A group of Iranian intellectuals released a public apology this week for what they say is a long history of the country's mistreatment of a religious group called the Baha'i...
Members of Baha'i - who think they are targeted in the predominantly Shiite nation because of their faith - have faced arrests and other oppression over the years.
They say the persecution is part of a pattern that began in 1979. That's when the monarchy of the Shah of Iran was toppled and an Islamic republic was created...
The entire CNN report adopts a weird tone of pseudo-objectivity, which ends up attributing well-known and documented facts to the subjective reports of the Baha'i community.
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 6:01AM
Reader Comments (7)
I can understand CNN's need to appear objective when it comes to coverage of Iran, but even I - a non-Baha'i - was greatly disturbed by the above articles.
I was surprise that the claim that Baha'i women are "used as bait" was given credence
Good points!
I heard about the Apology a few hours ago from a Facebook post and had not seen the CNN report. Interesting that the CNN coverage calls it the "Baha'i faith", the "Baha'i movement", then "members of Baha'i", then just "Baha'i".
The appearance of "objective coverage" is consistent with CNN's earlier reports like-
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/16/iran.bahais/index.html?iref=newssearch
It seems the CNN jury is out on whether the Baha'i Faith is a religion or not.
It appears that the wording in the CNN article is now changed.
From: "Members of Baha’i - who think they are targeted ..."
To: "Members of Baha'i -- who say they are targeted ..."
No mention is made of the killings. Many, many people have been killed, including my name-sake, Mona and members of her family who were hanged. Her only "crime" was teaching children virtues as is taught in the Baha'i scriptures. Many Baha'is simply disappear after being forceably taken by government officials. There need to be more of a global public outcry so that the leaders of the world can take note when it comes to voting on Human Rights issues at the United Naitons.
Thanks for all of your comments.
I think this issue speaks to the responsibility of media to discover and communicate the truth, not just to 'show both sides'. I don't believe there is such a thing as objectivity, but I do think that media should act without bias. Reporting on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran without bias means writing about what *actually* happens, as verified by innumerable third parties.
As Geron pointed out, it is positive that CNN thought to amend their article. Still, I don't think it goes far enough. CNN is using the guise of pseudo-objectivity to disguise reporting that is not rigorous. They simply don't bother to conduct even a superficial level of research.
*Excellent* analysis - thank you!
I just read this at the Washington Post: http://bit.ly/AM3jD
I think it's even more problematic that CNN's.