The Western media and Iran

Matthew Cassel, The Electronic Intifada, 23 June 2009

"One would think that the role of the media is to cover issues like conflict or rights abuses as they happen around the world. Although, it seems this isn't the case. Most Western media appear to follow their government's lead when focusing on different issues and then cover them in a way fitting with the government's position, hence the complete domination of events in Iran in nearly every single Western media outlet and the overwhelmingly positive portrayal of the protestors and the opposition as just.....

If the elections and demonstrations in Iran have revealed anything, it is that there are undeniably huge divisions that will greatly affect the future of the country. It's the individual's decision to choose which side he or she supports, if any. And it's the responsibility of the media to be independent of the authorities and to present accurate information in context so that news consumers' judgments will be informed and not made based off the foreign policy of Western governments.

A free and independent media is an essential part of any democracy, and something that the West is proving more and more that it lacks."