Coverage of popular unrest divides Middle East media.<\/b>
\nBy the fourth day of the protests in Iran, even as Iranian state media reported 10 deaths, Qatar-based Al Jazeera had stopped highlighting the momentous events on its homepage. In contrast, Saudi Arabia-based Al-Arabiya\u2019s top three stories were on the demonstrations. \u201cDeath toll rises to 12 as hundreds arrested,\u201d one headline read.
The chasm in coverage has broken along partisan lines in the Middle East. Media that are sympathetic to the pro-Iran camp, such as channels close to Hezbollah or the Syrian regime, have downplayed the protests or transmitted the regime\u2019s message. Those closer to Riyadh or the opposition to Assad have sought to show off the clashes.
The headline on Monday at Press TV in Iran, which parrots Tehran\u2019s line, announced, \u201cIranians free to criticize, stage protest: Rouhani.\u201d According to the piece, \u201cThe Iranian president says people are completely free to express their criticism or stage protests according to the constitution.\u201d The rest of the site highlighted the \u201cgreater resistance\u201d of Hamas, Israel\u2019s \u201capartheid system\u201d and unhappy Saudi drivers. On December 31, Press TV also featured, \u201cIsraelis protest against Netanyahu regime\u2019s corruption.\u201d Fars News Agency \u2013 which is connected to the Iranian government and focuses on comments by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps \u2013 asserted: \u201cThe US, the Zionist regime and the reactionary regimes in the region have always sought destruction of Islamic Iran\u2019s stability and security.\u201d Those comments highlight the \u201cgood cop, bad cop\u201d approach of the regime. On the one hand it claims to accept protests, while on the other it shuts down social media and sends in its supporters like the IRGC to suppress the demonstrators.
Other media in the Middle East have taken a more nuanced view or have ignored the protests. The Jordan Times buried protest coverage on its homepage on the first day of the New Year. Al-Masry al-Youm in Egypt didn\u2019t contain a major story on the protests. SANA, the official news agency of Syria, didn\u2019t cover the protests. The Daily Star in Lebanon was more interested in the trial of Ahed Tamimi in Israel and New Year\u2019s celebrations, but also published a balanced analysis titled, \u201cWhat brought Iranian protesters to streets?\u201d Al-Mayadeen TV, which is supportive of the Syrian government, included an interview with Mohsen Rezai, secretary of Iran\u2019s Expediency Council that claimed the US was \u201cintervening\u201d in Iran\u2019s affairs by supporting the protests. \u201cIT IS NORMAL that the day will come when the Iranian regime faces the wrath of the majority, which supported its arrival in power 40 years ago,\u201d wrote Abdulrahman al-Rashed at the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. The National in the UAE, which is generally critical of Qatar and Iran, didn\u2019t have one Iran story on its January 1 online edition. \u201cSeven years of watching protests eventually immunizes one against hope, but wow!\u201d tweeted columnist and author Hassan on December 30. Kuwait\u2019s Al-Jarida daily highlighted the protests, reporting the deaths of two demonstrators on Sunday and quoting Hidayatullah Khademi, an Iranian politician.
In Turkey, where the government has grown closer to Iran in the last year, media have shown a tepid response: Hurriyet barely covered the protests, preferring instead to quote Iranian state TV about the death of protesters; Daily Sabah also relegated Iran coverage to the bottom of its homepage, quoting Rouhani\u2019s claim that Iran would provide space for criticism; while news agency Anadolu featured several major pieces highlighting Iranian journalist Abbas Abdi and his claims that the protests were fueled by political factions opposed to Rouhani. \u201cIt is natural enough that the countries that do not have good relations with Iran are enjoying this situation. In the same way, Iran also enjoys if similar events happened in those countries,\u201d he said. Four other articles looked at the size of the protests, the arrests and the government\u2019s comments.
In the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, media have balanced its coverage of neighboring Iran with local coverage. Rudaw Media Network mentioned a Kurdish protester in Kermanshah who said, \u201cWhen we don\u2019t have bread to eat we are not afraid of anything.\u201d NRT, another Kurdish outlet, said demonstrators were calling for a general strike on January 2. \u201cPopular protests against poverty and the regime\u2019s oppressive policies continue in Iran and Rohilat [eastern Kurdistan region in Iran] for the fifth day.\u201d
Coverage throughout the region has tended to lack Iranian sources, which is surprising since some media there have greater access to Iran than that of Western media. Many reports have relied only on state media in Iran or even on wire stories from the West. This may be because the media fear alienating the Iranian regime. It may also be due to the fact that some media outlets don\u2019t want to step on toes in their home countries. Too much highlighting of the \u201cIranian right to protest\u201d might lead locals to wonder about their own right to protest. Since the Arab spring protests in 2011 led to the toppling of regimes and civil war in Syria, many governments in the Middle East are wary of letting the lid off any kind of social unrest. Nevertheless, those countries that have opposed Iran\u2019s involvement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq have been happy to see the regime forced to struggle \u2013 on its own turf, for once \u2013 rather than exporting Iranian influence.<\/p>\n

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