PressTV- Detained Newsweek reporter comes clean
Newsweek’s Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari has admitted to giving “false and biased” reports about the recent post-election events in Iran.
Bahari, who also had connections with the BBC and Britain’s Channel 4 news, was arrested in Tehran during the unrest that followed the announcement of the result of the 10th presidential election.
In a Tuesday press conference that was held while he was still in custody, Bahari explained the nature of some of his activities in Iran over the past years and the role that Western media had played in the events, which unfolded in the country.
“Most of the work I did for BBC and Channel 4 had to do with highlighting problems in various areas… the journalist work I did revolved around daily news and issues such as the parliamentary and presidential elections,” Bahari told reports.
“Western media are an inseparable part of the capitalist machine of Western liberal democracies. A Western journalist who comes to Iran… is mainly concerned with the interests of the West, which are defined in relation to each issue at every period of time,” he said.
The Newsweek reporter said international press set the scenes for velvet revolutions in various countries, adding that the gentle overthrow of a government could not be achieved without their critical role.
Bahari specifically highlighted the role of the BBC, CNN, Euronews, The New York Times and Newsweek.
“On the brink of every velvet revolution Western media try to portray the ruling administration as the traditional, bigoted, inefficient and undemocratic side while introducing the Western-inclined trend as a modern, efficient, democratic, and reformist movement that has support among the people,” he said.
Bahar said that in such cases, several months prior to the vote foreign news outlets begin efforts to persuade the public that the election will be rigged and that a coup is just around the corner.
He added that these media outlets give full coverage to illegal protests with the belief that broadcasting such events will help enlarge their scale.
The announcement of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election sparked opposition rallies in the capital Tehran with defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi demanding the vote to be annulled.
Iran has blamed the ‘biased’ attitude of European countries and their media for fueling the country’s post-election unrest.
Newsweek has issued a statement about Bahari’s arrest and called for his immediate release, saying that the journalist’s “coverage of Iran, for Newsweek and other outlets, has always been fair and nuanced, and has given full weight to all sides of the issues.”
“He has always worked well with different administrations in Tehran, including the current one,” the statement says.