A listener earlier this week wrote the following message to the mediator of Radio France antennas, Emmanuelle Daviet.
“Could you give more media coverage to the protests that are taking place in Iran? I understand that the war in Ukraine is in the headlines. But in Iran, it is an unprecedented social movement that is killing many people every day. Women, and a whole people are fighting for their freedom, it would be important to talk about it more.”
Emmanuelle Daviet: What is your editorial system for covering the situation in Iran?
Frank Mathevon: The movement in Iran really remains a priority for franceinfo and the international editorial staff today, in the news abroad. It is a major movement, much more important than the previous contestations, undoubtedly even more important than that of 2009, after the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is therefore given a lot of space on the air, and in particular on franceinfo.
We have several international journalists who know Iran very well, who have often been to that country. We have contacts on the spot, so we collect testimonies from a distance, but we don’t have the possibility of going to Iran. It is very difficult today to go to this country for a Western journalist, you need a visa, press credentials and it is extremely rare to be able to obtain these documents, particularly in these periods of dispute.
What difficulties are you facing?
The main difficulty is not being able to be there. In fact, we work with a freelance correspondent in Tehran, but he is Iranian. His room for maneuver is limited. It is very difficult for him to broach certain subjects in a country which represses protesters and where freedom of the press is limited. So we mainly cover the movement from Paris, thanks to our expertise, thanks to the expertise of researchers working on Iran, thanks to the testimonies we manage to collect.
And then, social networks are also an important source. Many images circulate there. But when we manage to authenticate certain images, it is a window on what is taking place at the moment in Iran.
In this context of difficulties, you have developed a very innovative way to collect testimonies…
You know that for some time now, we have been developing ways to collect testimonies remotely. It can simply be voice notes on certain applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal. And in Iran, there is an application which is very developed, it is Telegram. It is accessible via VPNs in Iran, which means that we basically do not have the same IP address. We are scrambling the IP address, so we are not exactly where we claim to be and via the dark web, i.e. the underground web.
If we trigger this application, Telegram, the messages are completely encrypted. This allows us to collect truly exclusive testimonials. This does not mean that the people who speak to us, who testify on the antennas of Radio France do not take significant risks.
Are they afraid to testify?
Ah yes, they are obviously afraid, it is very difficult to obtain testimonies. Most people speak to us on condition of anonymity and many of them refuse to testify and prefer to remain silent.
Is turning to the Iranian diaspora for testimonies an effective way of circumventing the difficulties?
The diasporas are often a good source of course, we invite on franceinfo and on the various branches of Radio France, Iranians who live in France, who know the country very well, the situation, who have family there, that can be researchers, artists.
But the Iranian diaspora is also a constellation of sometimes mysterious movements. We think, for example, of theIranian People’s Mujahideen Organization, sometimes assimilated to a sect. Exiled Iranians sometimes left the country several years ago, even several decades ago. Their testimonies are invaluable, but they give a very fragmented vision of today’s Iran.
If you had to sum up in a few words what are the notable differences with the coverage of the war in Ukraine?
The difference, we come back to this, is that in Ukraine, we can go into the field. Of course, it’s a war zone, it’s dangerous. Beware of misinformation. There are logistical difficulties, but we can really be on the ground. We have permanent teams in Ukraine. At least one or two teams on the field all the time. In Iran, it’s impossible, at least at the moment.