YOU ARE THE MEDIA: How Iranians "Democratized" the Media

First Name: 
Davar Iran
Last Name: 
Ardalan
Institutional Affiliation : 
Public Media Producer
Academic Bio: 
Davar Iran Ardalan is a civic journalist with decades of news gathering and executive leadership roles at NPR News. From community engagement to innovative ways to engage the public online to news programming choices during a crisis, Ardalan was at the forefront of digital innovation at NPR News. Most recently, Ardalan was in charge of Weekend Edition, two of NPR's most popular newsmagazines. Introducing her own pace and sensibility, Ardalan expanded audience interactivity, integrated social media tools and even encouraged legendary newsman Daniel Schorr to tweet, all the while continuing to produce an array of interactive stories on everything from race and politics to the impact of the recession on listeners and the meaning of citizenship. Ardalan left NPR News in March 2010 to pursue a career in digital journalism. Prior to coming to NPR's Weekend Edition, Ardalan worked as a Supervisory Producer on Morning Edition where she helped shape the daily newsmagazine, and was responsible for decisions that required elaborate coordination and planning such as broadcasts from Baghdad, Kabul and New Orleans. In June, 2009, as a Senior Producer at NPR and through her ancestry and connections in Iran, she received hundreds of documents, photos, tweets, emails and status updates from the front lines of the disputed Iranian election. Those desperate to have their votes counted and their voices heard embraced social media like never before, becoming for a time, the sole outlet for news escaping from Iran. Emerging from the round-ups and riots that shook the nation, Ardalan found a political and social sea-change taking place: unprecedented, direct communication and information that flows over and around any effort to suppress it. One particularly prescient email from Iran read: “Forward this to your friends. You are the media.” Ardalan has collected the messages that poured out of Iran and is structuring them with interviews, reportage and photographs, presenting not only a dramatic and important moment in Iran’s political history and history of women's rights but also a major turning point in the swiftly-changing nature of news gathering and media around the world.

Abstract:
As the former producer of NPR’s Weekend Edition and through my ancestry and connections in Iran, I received hundreds of texts, tweets, emails and status updates from the front lines of the disputed Iranian election. Those desperate to have their votes counted and their voices heard embraced social media like never before, becoming the sole outlet for news escaping from a closed government. Emerging from the round-ups and riots that shook the nation, I found a political and social sea-change taking place: unprecedented, direct communication and information that flows over and around any effort to suppress it. One particularly prescient email from Iran read: “Forward this to your friends. You are the media.” I have always believed that one of the most remarkable and under-reported stories in Iran has been the strength and character of it's women's movement. Since 1995, as an NPR Producer I have made sure their stories are told in more ways than one. Whether it was working with my colleague Jacki Lyden who travelled to Iran many times or by interviewing key women's rights players in their native Persian, women such as Simin Behbahani, Shirin Ebadi, Mehrangiz Kar, Sussan Tahmasebi, Fariba Mohajer, and many others NPR listeners have heard about the invincible power of Iranian women. Through politics, literature, poetry and religion, women's voices have at times been like roars and at other, like whispers of dissent. In the past 16 years, I have chronicled the story of Iranian women on NPR. It is evident by these stories alone that the women's movement has not only gotten stronger and more organized it has also emboldened a younger tech savy generation of women to take the front lines and demand their rights. I am now collecting and shaping the messages that poured out of Iran and structuring them with interviews, reportage and photographs, YOU ARE THE MEDIA is a document that presents not only a dramatic and important moment in Iran’s political history and history of women's rights but also a major turning point in the swiftly-changing nature of news and media around the world.

Academic Discipline : 
Journalism & Communications
AttachmentSize
Ardalan2010.doc159 KB

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