Intensive media coverage in Iran 'a double-edged sword'

Dubai: Out with the old, in with the new.

This couldn't be truer than in Iran's case after the current political crisis is solved.

Iran's image abroad is expected to be influenced by political developments and how they end. If elected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is confirmed, the view towards Iran is expected to get weaker and to "lack total legitimacy", experts said. If his main reformist competitor, Mir Hussain Mousavi, is declared president, Iran's regime will get a boost, they added.

For nearly a week, news from Iran has been making headlines around the world. Images of ongoing demonstrations are appearing on all forms of traditional and electronic media.

"Intensive media coverage could be a double-edge sword," Tehran-based Iranian analyst Ameer Mousavi said. "In my opinion, the coverage is a healthy thing, and gives a very good image to the free political movement in Iran," he told Gulf News.

While some believed the elections were "cosmetic", and its results "are cooked up behind closed doors, we have noticed the tight competition and [how people] crossed red lines".

After the results were announced, signs of competition and "active political street" are very clear in Iran, he noted.

However, Mousavi and other analysts acknowledge that pending a solution to the presidency problem; Iran's image might come out weaker.

"Yes, if Ahmadinejad is reinstated, that is the end of the Islamic Republic& it would be an Islamic regime without any democratic element," Ziba Mir Hussaini, a research associate at the department of social anthropology, University of Cambridge told Gulf News.

In case no satisfactory solution for all parties is reached, "I believe it will weaken Iran's position, or the legitimacy of the regime. That is true," prominent Iranian political analyst and researcher Mashallah Shams Al Waezeen said.

However, "Iran's leadership enjoys the political wisdom, and will solve it in a way that satisfies all parties," Waezeen, based in Tehran, said.

Until the issue is solved, media attention will remain on Iran, a fact that many analysts describe as "healthy" because of the country's weight in the international arena, and its presence in many issues of international concern.

London-based Ali Nouri Zada, Director of the Arab-Iranian Studies Center, said he is "very happy" to see this intensive media coverage of peoples' demands. "It is a message from the Iranian people to the world."

Earlier, the media highlighted the high turnout in the June 12 presidential election.

"Some people voted for the first time& They voted neither for the sake of Ahmadinejad nor Mousavi, they wanted to prove themselves and they were hoping the election will change their situation," he said, describing the situation as dangerous in Iran, politically, social and economic.

Iran has been suffering from spiraling inflation and high unemployment rates.

The long history of hostility between Iran and Washington is among the reasons for extensive media coverage, and a reason for Iran's concervatives to use "the outside enemy card".

"Any kind of this coverage will give another excuse to the conservatives or Ahmadinejad's campus accusing that there is a plot behind the media, it is a western plot," Mir Hussaini said. He added that while there are three million Iranians living abroad, many of whom are very active, but also with different agendas.

"Some of the active Iranians abroad seek a regime change, and because of that they are riding on this popular support in Iran," she added.