Satellites and the Politics of Iranian Radio & Television

Speakers and Conference Report

Satellites and the politics of Iranian Radio and Television – Paris 1994

Open Discussion

Chair: Dr Hossein Ladjevardi, ACI

Dr Ali Mohamadi – Lecturer, Nottingham University, International Communications and Satellites, England

Dr Ehsan Manouchehri – Lecturer, Paris University, Legal affairs and international media, France

Mr Ahmad Nassirpour – Specialist, Satellite communications, France

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Conference Report

At the height of the enforcement of the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the banning and confiscation of Satellite dishes and pressuring the listeners of international radio stations, ACI saw it necessary to call this extraordinary meeting.

While arrests and random searches of people’s property for satellite dishes are going on, we examined the role of satellite dishes and international radio stations in the lives of Iranians and the thinking behind the policy making in Islamic Republic of Iran.

Experts demonstrated the speed with which technology concerning the size of the dishes is progressing and how it will be undetectable in the future.

One of the most important topics of discussion concerned ‘Cultural invasion’ the term used to describe material broadcast via satellite and radio and the policies that the Iranian government has in combating it. This was discussed at length and the role of media and its future in people’s lives were examined.

The inability to stop progress and people’s contact with the outside world through the media was one of the most important and livelier topics of discussion. The experts pointed to the arrival of electronic media and internet in our lives and how it will become impossible to cut a whole nation off from the rest of the world.

ACI – October 1994