Evening star., 1908-12-04
JOURNALISM IN PERSIA
NEWSPAPERS ISSUED WITHOUT
HOPE OF MONEY PROFIT.
Volunteer Editors Have Caused the
Diffusion of Liberal Ideas.
Papers Secretly Circulated.
Translation in Literary Digest

Translation in Literary Digest
| Persia is perhaps the only country
where fortunes are cheerfulIy suuandered
| in newspapers; elsewhere for the most
part. there is at least the lure Of com
mercial success to incite the investor
| This il one of the exotic phases OF news
| paperdom that writer I'm the Paris La
Revue named Marylie Markovitch sets
| before us. Thus:
In Europe the founding Of newspaper
is commercial venture Politics are sll
right. but money is better. Not so in
Persia Foreigners have remarked that
"A Persian paper appears only To dissp-
| pear. This is natural for the object uf
a journalistic enterprise Is not 10 make
money, but 10 make liberal ideas
known. The paper is means a
propaganda. The founder Of news
| paper never expects Ia hll his pockets:
OH the contrary, he expects 10 empty
them. 1T often happens that several
friends get together for the purpose Of
spending their fortunes for "A common
idea. They sacrifice everything for this
| idea and when money bag is empty
they separate. satisfied il they have
attained a small part of their object and
leave room for others
The silence and contemplative calm of
the east is being rapidly broken in upor
by new journals: i'm 1905 there were four
papers published in Persia while today
there are more than twenty-five. The
character of the press has changed too;
| 1t has become more liberal For until
recently freedom Of the press was
known, and any liberal expression either
by words or action was considered q
crime Of lese-ma jesty.'
Glasses Of Newspapers
The author explains that under such
ha6 10 nf
| things: either purely scientific. such a.
the Ettela Unformation,. literary pub
lications being unheard of. or else Official
organs of the court. such AS the Iran.
which was "a mere echo Of dongs Al the
palace. utterly devoid of ideas, even though
the Shah Nasreddin deigned to collab"r-
ate once in while Both these papers
We're founded by Sany-ed- Dowlet. "a
member of the Paris GeOgra phical Society.
and d man OF wide experience and great
culture. Through the Ettela he made
his countrymen acquainted with the in
ventions and scientific progress Of the
occident He also organized a transla-
ton bureau where the masterpieces OF
occidental literature were made accessible
TO the subjects Of the Persian Lion. Sew
eral years ago. fl Is said. an attempt
was made by a Frenchman to establish
a liberal paper but the authorities imiEe.
diately forbade its publication.
But how the times have changed ex-
claims Mr.. Markovitch. What would
Nasreddin and his co,Inselors say n they
saw papers such AZ the Habl-olM Matin
or the Sour Israfil? Our Persian col
leagues have not absolute freedom. o.
course. but on the whole Persian jour
| nalsm profits hy tolerance which for
tells a great future" But most OF all.
he goes on to say. public opinion has
changed For nothing changes IL people
so as the existence of newspaper. Per-
slams have not escaped this law.
THE Persian press Is essentially polit-
ical. The best known paper is the Medj-
Ills tThe ParliamenD, an official organ
Of the country containing telegraphic
| messages from all parts OF the world.
| paper with circulation Of 4,o00 copies
| is the Habl-ol-M Matin (The Powerful
| Bond). Its tendencies are rather pessi-
| mistic: yet by continually warning its
| readers TO beware Of Russian and Eng
| 1ish influence. 1t has. in a great measure.
| awakened the national and patriotic feel
ing The Nadaye Vatan CThe Cry of the
1 Country has suggested many reforms,
which. however have fallen through. The
most interesting were the proposals or
national bank and the distribution Of land
among the poor. The first was to he
accomplished through "A general effort
| the women. for instance. were to have
given all their jewels and ornaments 10
the treasury. This they readily agreed
to do for Persian women take more In
terest in the political advancement OF
their country than Is commonly supposed.
Many women have demanded more nh-
erai instruction and not a few write for
the papers. We read:
Women Constitutionalists.
I'm publishing verses written by a wom-
an at the opening session of the paria-
ment the editor of the Madjelle-Esteblad
adds: L know with what pleasure the con-
stitutionals will read these verses Yes.
our women are now working as zealously
as our men. and. at the present moment.
two-thirds of the women of the capital
are willing to risk anything for the main
tenance of the constitution.
Persia has many reviews. says the
author. but even in this field the Per-
sian can not leave politics out. Persia
Is waking up to life, and political organi-
zation is the ALA bsorbing thought, each
person considering ii duty to bring
his stone TO the national edifice While.
therefore, Il review in Europe Ia literary.
scientific or philosophical, in Persia 1t
contains nothing but political papers with
n few humorous and literary notes at
tached. The most widely read and most
important of these publications is the
Sour Israfi CThe Trumpet OF lSra1lD
The cover showing the angel israfil blow
ing his trumpet to wake the dead, is
Of course symbolic. This Is by Tar
the most liberal magazine. The words
liberty equality fraternity adorn the
title-page while the program is very ,ad-
yanced Supprcst again and again the
Sour Israfil has always risen victorious.
while its Independent spirit has never
been quenched
Night Papers.
The author devotes few words 10 the
chal-na-meh or night papers:
"A form of Journalism known only IN
Persia is the chal-ua-meh. They origl-
mated with the liberal movement Ut 4
time when political intolerance threat
ened the lives OF those who ventured
openly to express an idea of reform OF a