VOA Persian Service’s programming appears to be determined by whatever well-funded lobbying group has sufficient power on Capitol Hill, rather than a reflection of the various democratic tendencies within Iran. Money counts in this business, not democracy. Consequently, the monarchists – with their financial clout – are disproportionately represented in VOA’s broadcasts to Iran compared to less wealthy groups. It appears from the evidence presented that the agenda is set by them, the guests are chosen by them and a false dichotomy is set up between monarchy and theocracy. Democratic currents based on ethnicity are derided as “separatist”, when they evidently are not.
I have some news for VOA’s bosses. Nobody is calling for a return to monarchy in Iran. Perhaps they dare not, perhaps they think the monarchy is now irrelevant (after all, most Iranians were born after the Islamic revolution) or perhaps they simply do not want the Pahlavis back. But it is clear that ethnic minority rights have a growing constituency in Iran, where at least half the population is non-Persian, and are as much a part of the democratic trends in Iran as the brave students, trade unionists, women and human rights activists standing up to tyranny. If VOA wants to be relevant to Iranians, it needs to reflect this. If it just wants to be led by the wealthiest Iranian exiles, then it is failing in meeting the requirements of its charter and perhaps the considerable amounts of public money set aside for VOA’s Persian Service would be better spent elsewhere: interactive grassroots media, for example.
