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At TIBF:
Challenges of journalism books in Iran assessed
6 May 2012 13:13
A summit entitled as Challenges of Publications on Journalism in Iran was held at the 25th Tehran International Book Fair on Friday, May 4, 2012, in the presence of Omid Ali Masoudi, communications group manager of Soureh University.
IBNA: In his opening speech, Masoudi outlined the history of journalism in Iran stating, “Journalism in Iran began as an imitated work. Abbas Mirza decided to learn about the print industry and identified a number of experts in his era. Also, Mirza Saleh Shirazi (father of print industry in Iran) tripped to the UK to learn journalism.”
“There were no print houses in Iran before Mirza Saleh returned to the country to establish the first print house,” he added.
He went on to say that the first newspaper readers were Qajar princes and very few educated individuals in Iran. Transportation was a great issue in the way of circulation copies of the issues and papers were not printed at regular intervals.
Journalism in Iran went through three major eras of 40s, 50, and 60s to find itself. During the 40s, journalism was being practiced with harsh censorship and almost no journalists can be named to prosper during the decade; even no books on journalism were published in Iran.
Masoudi further added that the first course on journalism in Iran was held no sooner than 1940 which coincided with the events of the same year’s August leading to cancelation of many newspapers in Iran. However, in the 50s, new efforts were made to hold training courses for journalists by Mesbahzadeh, manager of Keyhan newspaper. He managed to enter journalism program into Tehran university; however, because not many experts could be found in Iran to teach the lessons, new learners were sent to foreign countries to learn the discipline.
He further stated that in the current market most of the books on journalism are copies of university pamphlets presented to students by their lecturers.
He also stated that there can be found some few good books on the issue like the books compiled by Dr. Motamedzadeh. Moreover, there are many low-quality translations in the market.
He finalized his statements by expressing hope that with the release of new specialized and scientific journals on journalism, the discipline will expand much more significantly in the near future in Iran.
The 25th Tehran International Book Fair is being held at Tehran's Grand Imam Khomeini Prayer Ground and will run through May 12, 2012.
