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Iranian Regime Media: Islam, Nationalism, and Political Control
Abstract
The Islamic Republic of Iran has had a robust media world since the establishment of the revolutionary government forty years ago. In these four decades, regime media producers have developed a series of strategies to create media to communicate their political vision to the general population. In the first two decades of the revolution, state-produced media focused on the creation of revolutionary Islamic citizens, and as such, media production focused on how to communicate the “correct” Islam that a revolutionary subject should follow. In the last decade, however, with the increased proxy wars in the Middle East between Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States, the Islamic Republic has changed its strategy. Given its international isolation combined with internal discord and protests, producers of Iranian state-media now develop strategies to create media with a more “expansive Islam,” in the hopes that it can garner a bigger audience, and by extension, political support. In the face of increased international funding for satellite television stations that broadcast into Iran with an anti-regime political message, as well as material support by international governments for social media trolls, this paper looks at how state-producers of media in Iran emphasis nationalism that simultaneously downplays religious themes. The emphasis on nationalism advances the notion that the Islamic Republic is an entity that defends all Iranians in the face of international aggression, not just a vision of an Islamic Iran. This paper will explore the creation of new regime-sponsored internet channels, social media campaigns, and films that combine “expansive Islam” with nationalism in the service of a particular vision of Iran and the Middle East.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
Media