Post by Teddy Bear on Jul 22, 2007 21:06:13 GMT
Contrast these 2 articles, one from Reuters and the other the BBC. They tell of alleged confessions obtained by Iran from 2 separate American nationals of Iranian origin, who the Iranians claim are US spies trying to undermine the Iranian regime.
From the Reuters article one certainly gets the sense of coercion and ridiculousness of the Iranian claims. From the BBC, it seems to me it's almost deferential, or is it just me?
Even the headlines of both are stark in their intent, just with a different agenda.
Reuters: Iran says "confessions" unveil U.S. plot
In fact the BBC's gives no clue as to what the story is about, which is probably the purpose.
BBC: Iran shows new scholars' footage
Sounds like Iran has discovered some educational boon.
Pity it's not another of the BBC employees that's been held and coerced in this way. It appears that's the only time the BBC gets some degree of real perspective into their stories.
First Reuters
Now for the BBC offering
From the Reuters article one certainly gets the sense of coercion and ridiculousness of the Iranian claims. From the BBC, it seems to me it's almost deferential, or is it just me?
Even the headlines of both are stark in their intent, just with a different agenda.
Reuters: Iran says "confessions" unveil U.S. plot
In fact the BBC's gives no clue as to what the story is about, which is probably the purpose.
BBC: Iran shows new scholars' footage
Sounds like Iran has discovered some educational boon.
Pity it's not another of the BBC employees that's been held and coerced in this way. It appears that's the only time the BBC gets some degree of real perspective into their stories.
First Reuters
Iran says "confessions" unveil U.S. plot
Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:26PM BST
By Hossein Jaseb
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that televised "confessions" of two detained American-Iranians unveiled a U.S.-backed plan to topple Iran's clerical establishment.
State television aired a programme called "In the Name of Democracy" on Wednesday and Thursday, featuring interviews with Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, who Iran accuses of being involved in a U.S.-backed plot to stage a "velvet revolution" in the Islamic state.
Washington has called the programme illegitimate and coerced, urging Iran to immediately release the two dual nationals, arrested separately in May while visiting Iran from the United States.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the programme proved the United States had a long-term programme to "overthrow the system" in Iran.
"The confessions of the two detained people uncovers a long-term plan which America has invested in and has allocated a great budget for," Hosseini told a weekly news conference.
Esfandiari, an academic at the U.S.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said on Thursday she had helped create a network "to lead to very fundamental changes in Iran's system."
Senior cleric Ahmad Khatami, member of a body with power to sack or appoint Iran's supreme leader, said on Friday: "The confessions proved America wanted to weaken the system by using intellectuals."
A U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Friday: "This should be an embarrassment to the Iranian regime. Is it really possible to imagine that a government is so fragile and so under siege that individuals coming to visit elderly family members threaten its existence?"
He said the U.S. request through the Swiss and other embassies in Tehran to have consular access to the pair, had been refused by Tehran. Tehran and Washington have no diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Tajbakhsh, a consultant with the Soros institute, founded by billionaire investor George Soros, told the same programme: "The aim of the Soros centre was to bring a model of the Western democracy" to Iran after an eventual conflict.
The U.S.-based Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute said it was "deeply concerned over Iran's use of deliberately contrived television footage" of the pair.
The programme made no mention of two other American-Iranians detained on spying charges, one of whom has been freed on bail.
Iranian TV has in the past broadcast the so-called "confessions" by dissidents serving jail sentences for alleged attempts to undermine the Islamic Republic.
Washington is leading efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which Iran says is solely to generate electricity. U.S. forces have detained five Iranians in Iraq on charges of backing militants there.
The two countries are set to hold fresh talks in Iraq soon, following a landmark meeting in Baghdad in May.
Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:26PM BST
By Hossein Jaseb
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that televised "confessions" of two detained American-Iranians unveiled a U.S.-backed plan to topple Iran's clerical establishment.
State television aired a programme called "In the Name of Democracy" on Wednesday and Thursday, featuring interviews with Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, who Iran accuses of being involved in a U.S.-backed plot to stage a "velvet revolution" in the Islamic state.
Washington has called the programme illegitimate and coerced, urging Iran to immediately release the two dual nationals, arrested separately in May while visiting Iran from the United States.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the programme proved the United States had a long-term programme to "overthrow the system" in Iran.
"The confessions of the two detained people uncovers a long-term plan which America has invested in and has allocated a great budget for," Hosseini told a weekly news conference.
Esfandiari, an academic at the U.S.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said on Thursday she had helped create a network "to lead to very fundamental changes in Iran's system."
Senior cleric Ahmad Khatami, member of a body with power to sack or appoint Iran's supreme leader, said on Friday: "The confessions proved America wanted to weaken the system by using intellectuals."
A U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Friday: "This should be an embarrassment to the Iranian regime. Is it really possible to imagine that a government is so fragile and so under siege that individuals coming to visit elderly family members threaten its existence?"
He said the U.S. request through the Swiss and other embassies in Tehran to have consular access to the pair, had been refused by Tehran. Tehran and Washington have no diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Tajbakhsh, a consultant with the Soros institute, founded by billionaire investor George Soros, told the same programme: "The aim of the Soros centre was to bring a model of the Western democracy" to Iran after an eventual conflict.
The U.S.-based Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute said it was "deeply concerned over Iran's use of deliberately contrived television footage" of the pair.
The programme made no mention of two other American-Iranians detained on spying charges, one of whom has been freed on bail.
Iranian TV has in the past broadcast the so-called "confessions" by dissidents serving jail sentences for alleged attempts to undermine the Islamic Republic.
Washington is leading efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which Iran says is solely to generate electricity. U.S. forces have detained five Iranians in Iraq on charges of backing militants there.
The two countries are set to hold fresh talks in Iraq soon, following a landmark meeting in Baghdad in May.
Now for the BBC offering
Iran shows new scholars' footage
Iranian state television has shown the second part of a programme with two Iranian-American scholars who have been detained in the country since May.
It again suggested there was a plot to overthrow the government through a "Velvet Revolution" similar to those seen in 1989 in Eastern Europe.
Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh are being held on suspicion of spying and endangering Iranian national security.
The academics could face the death penalty if charged and found guilty.
'Making system unstable'
The documentary, In the Name of Democracy, was based on interviews with the two academics.
Mr Tajbakhsh is an urban planner with the Open Society Institute
Ms Esfandiari, who works at the US-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, spoke of attempts to create networks of people who would ultimately bring about fundamental change within the Islamic republic.
"After five months of staying in Iran I concluded that these people and I... in the name of democracy... were trying to create a network to lead to very essential changes in the system of Iran.
"It means to make the system unstable," Ms Esfandiari said.
She made the statement in a strange, long-winded fashion, perhaps suggesting that she was not speaking of her own free will, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says.
The statement also hardly amounted to a confession, our correspondent says.
Mr Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute, said his organisation's aim was to "create a gap between the (Iranian) government and the people".
"This would have resulted in creating a Western-style democracy in Iran by empowering non-government organisations," he said.
Most of the rest of the programme was taken up with an effort to show that the Open Society Institute was targeting Iran for another peaceful revolution - like in Ukraine and Georgia, our correspondent says.
But if anything, he says, all the documentary really illustrated was the fear of those who now run Iran that they are vulnerable to just such a revolution, our correspondent says.
In the first episode, the documentary also alternated between the academics' interviews and dramatic pictures of the revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia to suggest there was a US-led plot to overthrow the Iranian government.
The US has rejected the allegations against the two scholars.
Iranian state television has shown the second part of a programme with two Iranian-American scholars who have been detained in the country since May.
It again suggested there was a plot to overthrow the government through a "Velvet Revolution" similar to those seen in 1989 in Eastern Europe.
Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh are being held on suspicion of spying and endangering Iranian national security.
The academics could face the death penalty if charged and found guilty.
'Making system unstable'
The documentary, In the Name of Democracy, was based on interviews with the two academics.
Mr Tajbakhsh is an urban planner with the Open Society Institute
Ms Esfandiari, who works at the US-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, spoke of attempts to create networks of people who would ultimately bring about fundamental change within the Islamic republic.
"After five months of staying in Iran I concluded that these people and I... in the name of democracy... were trying to create a network to lead to very essential changes in the system of Iran.
"It means to make the system unstable," Ms Esfandiari said.
She made the statement in a strange, long-winded fashion, perhaps suggesting that she was not speaking of her own free will, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says.
The statement also hardly amounted to a confession, our correspondent says.
Mr Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute, said his organisation's aim was to "create a gap between the (Iranian) government and the people".
"This would have resulted in creating a Western-style democracy in Iran by empowering non-government organisations," he said.
Most of the rest of the programme was taken up with an effort to show that the Open Society Institute was targeting Iran for another peaceful revolution - like in Ukraine and Georgia, our correspondent says.
But if anything, he says, all the documentary really illustrated was the fear of those who now run Iran that they are vulnerable to just such a revolution, our correspondent says.
In the first episode, the documentary also alternated between the academics' interviews and dramatic pictures of the revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia to suggest there was a US-led plot to overthrow the Iranian government.
The US has rejected the allegations against the two scholars.