Press TV

What to make of the Iranian government's new Press TV? Its a recent 24 hr English tv news channel produced by the Iranian government. I learned of it through an article from the New York Times. Whether it was my server acting up, or something more sinister, I could not visit the new station's website myself, but I did visit a cached link by Google. The results: pretty much what you would expect from the Iranian regime. The stories look pretty blatently pro-Ahmadinejad, anti-American. Still, one wonders what sort of news or footage might be aired here that may not make it on Western channels.

I have yet to watch the channel itself, but I would say that this is a very clear indicator that Ahmadinejad & co. are taking their role as competing regional power very seriously (as if that wasn't clear before). This play moves Iran up in terms of its ability to counter American efforts at media propoganda (a la RadioFree Europe and US-based Persian language stations). I can't imagine what the exact impact will be, or who will tune in. The Iranian regime is learning to become more sophisticated in its geopolitical power-struggle with the West.

Censorship in Iranian Magazines

It's a bit old, but I just ran across this post by a Swedish traveller about censorship in Iran. It has some interesting pictures, as well as some thought-provoking commentary on the role of censorship in various societies today. His point is that Americans are subject to censorship just as the Iranians are, it is simply a more subtle form. In fact, he suggests that in Iran, at least the censorship is transparant (at least in magazines). His point about "colonialist" perspectives of National Geographic and other US magazines struck me as interesting.