MESA Banner
Commercial Advertising and the Constitutional Press in Iran
Abstract
This paper offers a close reading of "Iran-e naw" and its advertisements. "Iran-e naw" was among the most renowned newspapers published in Iran in the second constitutional era, and reportedly enjoyed the largest circulation of all papers published in Tehran at a time when political factions had emerged and politics had become more polarized. Published from 23 August 1909 to 19 December 1911, it is best known for its affiliation to the Democrat party (Ferqeh-ye demokrat-e Iran), a political faction with a social democratic agenda. As a result, historians have considered it primarily as an important source for its discussions of social reform as well as its heated debates with the organs of other political factions at this time. However, politics aside, "Iran-e naw" was also important in and of itself, in terms of the innovations that it introduced in the domain of journalism. It was for example, the first newspaper to appear as a broadsheet and also to include a range of commercial advertisements. The presence of advertisements in "Iran-e naw" marked a change from the practice of the earlier newspapers of the first constitutional era (1906-1908). That is, while the more long-lasting newspapers in the first constitutional era did include some advertising, there were few and far between, and had to do mostly with the publication of books or newspapers, which one could argue was in keeping with the widely-held belief by the reform-minded at this time that learning in general and the printed word in particular could bring about progress. In other words, in the first constitutional period, when newspapers were concerned with generating a new kind of politics, raising money by means of advertising was considered almost vulgar. Majd al-Eslam Kermani, the editor of "Neda-ye Vatan," who tended to give voice to the financial struggles involved in the running a newspaper, was often accused by contemporaries of being interested in only making money. By contextualizing "Iran-e naw" and comparing the advertisements that appeared in its pages with those that were published in the first constitutional era, this paper explores not only the socio-cultural changes that were afoot at this time, but it also brings attention to the new journalism that was taking shape, both in terms of the readership that was cultivated as well as the idea of what it meant to publish a newspaper.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries