Internet, the main media of Iranian reformists

Iranian reformists are in their worst position. Not only they are far away from political power, but also they lack any impressive media to express their plans and ideas. All media are controlled by conservatives or supporters of president Ahmadinejad.

 All TV channels and radio stations are controlled by the ruling government. Satellite is generally forbidden by law. Also conservatives have the merit of religious and military organs which work as their political media. A few moderate reformist newspapers and internet are the only media for reformist to contact pubic opinion of Iranian society.

Reformist weblogs and websites are the main media of reform movements. But internet is very slow in Iran and it has a limited influence in rural areas and for uneducated people in far cities. Also it is very costly and poor families don’t access internet.Many top leaders of reform movement have websites as Mr. Abtahi the assistant of former president Khatami. All political parties have their own websites which play the role of their media and sometimes are filtered by government.

 But the supporters of radical president Ahmadinejad have no need for this type of slow media. They have all TV channels and radios and newspapers and religious and military voices. Yet they aren’t in a really ideal situation because they couldn’t materialize public wishes especially in the field of economy and foreign policy. 

The question is: can internet lead Iranian society to democratic wishes of reformists? Considering rapid developments in the field of IT and other media, the idea of world village will really materialize and Iranian society will discover the sun which is hidden by clouds.