Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

I was born in Tehran right before the revolution and moved to California during the toughest years of war between Iran and Iraq. I often heard horrifying stories of my family members running to basements to seek shelter from bombs going off in the night. As I slept quietly in my room, tucked away in the hills of the Bay Area, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with a deep sense of guilt for having got out in time.

Now I am all grown-up. I married an American. I report on human rights and justice. I defend press freedom--and nearly thirty years after the start of the revolution, I am still perplexed by the country I call my native land.

It is estimated that three to five million Iranians live abroad. As one of these Iranians, it will be obvious that my perspective on Iran has been influenced by the West. But I still consider myself an authentic representation of Iran. I speak the language, Farsi, if albeit with an American accent. I closely study Zoroastrianism, the before Islam form of Iranian religious practices. And I am always asked to speak on behalf of Iranians, the "what are they really thinking" type of interviews on nuclear power, foreign policy, the Holocaust, and now--the elections.

The presidential election is coming up this Friday, June 12th. So far, the Iranian government has allowed no independent coverage of the election campaign in the Iranian media. Why? According to Reporters Without Borders, an esteemed global press freedom group I have worked with for over seven years, there is a troubling: "lack of balanced and independent electoral coverage in the Iranian media and the fact that at least 15 journalists have been threatened or summoned for questioning in the cities of Mashhad, Ahvaz, Sanandaj, Khoram Abad, Khohdasht and Tabriz since the campaign for the June 12 presidential election began on May 21st."

Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, was jailed for months on false spying charges until an appeal court set her free a few weeks ago. Phew. We were lucky on that one, but over a dozen journalists still remain behind bars on trumped-up charges.

There are several candidates on the slate who have threatened the tough reign of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is running for another term. The President seems opposed to any challenge. According to a tally kept by Reporters Without Borders, the candidates running against President Ahmadinejad have had fewer than two hours to talk on national radio and TV stations while the president has had 10 times that. Ahmadinejad's biggest opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the former Prime Minister during the Islamic Revolution, poses a serious pro-reform challenge to the country's hard-line establishment. Mousavi has often criticized Ahmadinejad for his alleged economic mismanagement (Iran's current unemployment rate stands at over 12.5% percent with nearly 25% percent youth unemployment) , stating that when Iran "was making profits from the high prices of oil, did he (Ahmadinejad) envisage a situation when the prices would fall?".

Getting a job and keeping it are key concerns for Iranians. Perhaps more than nuclear power and all the international bluster the President seems to get wherever he goes. Whether or not Mousavi will get the vote and how Iranians hear about his candidacy seems to also have many in the country digging around to find the real facts on the candidates. But they won't be able to rely on the media to help them out.

“Iran’s 46 million voters have been deprived of independent reporting in the national media throughout the campaign,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Iranian journalists are monitored by the authorities and cannot give their fellow citizens objective coverage of the debates and issues. There are many state-owned newspapers but their reporting is all the same. The radio and TV stations are used by the government while the so-called opposition newspapers are used above all for factional in-fighting. They do not unfortunately serve as forums where opinions can be expressed freely.”

Let's hope democracy prevails on Friday. As a hyphenated American, I'd like to see Iranians back home gain some of the advantages I have been privileged to in this country for nearly all my life.