Breaking eggs in Iran

Abstract

The writer spend four years in Iran working as a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and here reports that “Western readers and listeners are unaware of the constraints under which their information on Iran has been produced. While the number of resident reporters in the country is low and falling, many outlets retain the dateline by sending visiting hacks who hire quasi-official minders through Ershad. Even the resident reporter finds it hard to gain access to anyone or any place remotely near a real story, although to admit this to editors is dangerous when they are desperate to know what is going on in the ‘axis of evil’.” He concludes: “Hard facts have a way, sometimes, of confounding both propaganda and inaccurate and malicious reporting. Lessons can be learned, and the truth can be recognised. But one thing is clear. If it comes to a U.S. or U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Western readers and listeners are likely to be even worse prepared than they were for the invasion of Iraq.”