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Iran: Can Its Stories Be Told?On a spring afternoon, Iason Athanasiadis, then in his Nieman year and a photojournalistwho’d worked in Tehran for three years before arriving in Cambridge,urged me to have Nieman Reports illuminate the ways in which Iranian andWestern journalists and those who carry dual citizenship work in Iran. His visionwas of a wide-ranging exploration of on-the-ground reporting. A year later,stories woven with threads of reporting experiences remind us of why it’s difficultfor outsiders to truly understand what is happening in Iran.Roya Hakakian grew up in postrevolutionary Iran. Now, as an Iranian-Americanauthor and journalist, she yearns for a clearer view of her homeland toemerge. “Poor reporting from and about Iran has kept the West in the dark,” shewrites. “In this lightlessness, Iranians are rendered as ghosts.”Wearing an Iranian flag, a Metallica T-shirt, and bandannassupporting reformist candidate Mostafa Moein, twofriends attended a 2005 pre-election rally in a Tehransoccer stadium. Photo by Iason Athanasiadis.Journalists still pushagainst boundaries of whatIran permits to tell what ishappening there. Doing soinvites the tactics of intimidation,threats and interrogationsand the risk ofimprisonment, banishment,torture and, in some cases,death. A reporter who hasbeen imprisoned and is writingwithout a byline says: “Itis undecided life, with therisks taken being unpredictable,since its press law isopen to interpretation. Punishment for breaking the law depends on many things,too, including who you are and what your job is.” Another reporter sent us ane-mail to explain why words intended for our pages would not be on them: “If itwas a better time, I would have done it. I am under a lot of psychological pressure,and I am trying not to let it affect my work. My neighbors keep getting callsfrom security officials who tell them that I am involved in drug smuggling. I amassuming that they want to intimidate me with embarrassing charges before theelection.”Others in our Nieman family provided invaluable guidance, and I am gratefulto them. Roza Eftekhari, once an editor at Zanan, a women’s magazine in Iranbanned in 2007 by the Press Supervisory Board, reached out to Iranian journalistsand asked them to write for this issue. She also found a Farsi translator,Semira Noelani Nikou, a 22-year-old student at Scripps College. Hannah Allam,Scheherezade Faramarzi, Dorothy Parvaz, Nieman Fellows in this year’s class,generously offered advice, with Scheherezade and Parvaz, both with family ties toIran, joining their words to our pages, giving a gift to us all. —Melissa Ludtke4 Nieman Reports | Summer 2009