TEHRAN Two years ago on August 6, an IRNA correspondent Mahmoud Saremi was killed by Taleban forces in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. On the occasion of Saremi's martyrdom, 17th Mordad has been designated as the Day of Journalists'. A few journalists talked to the TEHRAN TIMES about their professional problems.
IRNA's political reporter, Mohammad Reza Naderi, said that since, in our society, the press has been substituted for political parties, pressure on the print media has multiplied, not to mention the heavy burden of economic problems journalists must shoulder.
He said that since in our country the law does not support journalists, we have no job security. Neither the Fifth nor the Sixth Majlis has observed the rights of journalists.
Naderi said that journalists support the rights of all strata of society, but no one defends the rights of journalists. He added that the reason for the refusal of officials and the people to cooperate with journalists lies in our culture and the domineering attitude toward the print media. When an official is criticized by a newspaper, it is beset by power wielders and forced to retreat.
The political reporter of Hamshahri daily, Zahra Ebrahimi, told the TEHRAN TIMES that journalists are usually engaged in arduous mental work, under great stress, generating physical and mental exhaustion. In the 20 years since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the government had never endangered the professional security of journalists. Today, however, the Judiciary has shut down 20 publications.
Ebrahimi said the Majlis should provide journalists job security by correcting the press law.
If an offense is observed in a newspaper, the managing director should be called to task, not the reporter. She said that closure of publications gives rise to unemployment in society, pressures families of journalists economically, and deprives the public of various views.
Saqi Laqaei, an IRNA reporter, told the TEHRAN TIMES that the most important thing that the Majlis and government officials can do for journalists is to draw up a professional constitution for journalists. In this light, the work of journalists will become legally institutionalized and dealing with offenders will be accomplished within the framework of this constitution.
This can solve many of the problems of journalists such as insurance...
Laqaei said the efforts of organizations such as the Association of Iranian Journalists for creating job security and the restoration of the rights of our colleagues should not be ignored.
Editor of the Resalat daily's political desk, Amir Mohebbian, told the TEHRAN TIMES that people like to know, but there are those who do not like the people to know. This conflict strips a journalist of his or her professional independence.
He said the government, the Majlis, and those who are active in social affairs and the Labor Ministry should consider journalism as a difficult profession.
Mohebbian said that our responsible officials are not accustomed to being accountable. In my opinion, journalists represent people; they are duty-bound to make officials answer to the people.
Secretary of the Association of Iranian Journalists, Homaira Hosseini, told the TEHRAN TIMES that throughout the world journalism is recognized as a stressful profession; journalists enjoy a special standing and have various benefits.
She deplored the lack of job security for journalists in Iran, saying the closure of 20 publications substantiates this fact.
A free press signifies freedom of expression in a society. With the closure of newspapers we cannot provide a free atmosphere, calling on the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government to pass a bill for a constitution for journalists.