ضرورت بازتعریف جایگاه خبرنگار در عصر جنگ روایت‌ها

The Journalist; A Warrior Armed with a Pen
The Necessity of Redefining the Role of Journalists
in the Age of “Narrative Warfare”

Najme seyyeddokht-Mardome No: He woke up with the first sound of the explosion. He knew that the shadow of war and threat had been hanging over the city for days; but he never thought that that sound would be the beginning of a chapter that would not be erased from his mind for the rest of his life.
He had not yet woken up when the wave of the explosion shook the windows and shattered the silence of the dawn. It took him a few moments to believe what had happened; a brutal war crime had been committed by bombing a school in Minab! He picked up the phone and immediately rushed to the street.
The closer he got to the scene of the incident, the stronger the smell of smoke and dust, the heavier the air, and the more anxious the people became.
Amidst the rubble, screams could be heard that no journalist ever dreams of hearing; the voice of a mother calling for her child, the groans of the wounded waiting for help, and the bitter silence that fell over the city after each explosion.
Before he is a journalist, he is a human being; a human being who wants to put down the camera, take the hand of a wounded child and pull him out of the rubble, and share the grief of the survivors.
He turns on his camera at the crossroads of his sense of humanity and the mission of journalism. He knows that if he does not record what he sees and if reality is not reflected as it is, the field of newsmaking will be handed over to the enemy. With a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes, he clicks the camera shutter one after the other and presses the record button.
Perhaps no decision for a journalist is more bitter than choosing between providing relief and recording the truth in a matter of seconds; a choice that does not arise from indifference to human suffering, but from faith in the belief that the recorded truth can prevent the repetition of crimes and the victimization of truth in the clamor of propaganda.
Every day, a journalist faces a new event, and in this confrontation, he is obliged to discover the truth in the shortest possible time; a truth that is sometimes hidden behind smoke and fire, sometimes under the rubble of an earthquake, sometimes amidst the cries of war, and sometimes in the bitter silence of grieving families.
He is the first person to reach the text of the incident and the last person to leave the field. Perhaps this is why journalism is considered one of the most risky professions in the world and one of the most difficult and harmful professions; a profession whose job security, mental peace, and even the lives of its owners have often been sacrificed for the mission of informing. Before being a news writer, a journalist is a trustee of the truth, and this trust has become heavier than ever in this era of global turmoil.
The rapid developments in the region in the present era, including the brutal aggression of the American terrorist armies and the usurping Zionist regime against Iran, have once again shown that today’s war does not only occur in the sky and on earth; It is also happening in the minds of the audience. We all witnessed that, at the same time as the military operations in the 12-day and then 40-day war began, millions of messages, images, videos, and narratives were published on social networks and international media. Each side tried to redefine its narrative; sometimes by publishing real images, sometimes by using old images, artificial intelligence, incomplete information, or biased analyses.
This is what is referred to today in strategic literature as hybrid warfare and the battle of narratives; a battle whose goal is not to capture territory; but to capture the minds of people.
In the meantime, the Iranian media also had a national and patriotic mission on their shoulders, and the revolutionary media, as always, tried to present the country’s official narrative of the developments and have a timely and effective presence in this field by covering the field, talking to experts, publishing analytical reports, and producing content in response to competing narratives.
Regardless of how each media outlet evaluates its success, this fact is undeniable; In today’s world, any country that is passive in the field of narrative, even if it has the upper hand in the military field, may be considered a loser in global public opinion. Today’s war is a war of narratives, and the media is considered one of the most important aspects of national power.
Despite this great mission, Iranian journalists face numerous difficulties; low income, unstable contracts, weak insurance and union protections, burnout, psychological stress resulting from covering crises and incidents, lack of professional equipment, and the poor economic situation of many media outlets are part of the reality of journalism in Iran today.
Many local and regional media outlets have kept the light of information on for years with minimal resources but with the greatest motivation; a light that if extinguished, society will also lose part of its ability to see and hear.
In fact, Journalist’s Day is not only a day to appreciate the owners of pens and cameras; it is an opportunity to redefine the concept of journalism in Iran. Today, more than ever, the country’s media needs to review the way it writes news. Eliminating boring nonsense and repetition, avoiding administrative clichés, distancing itself from writing bulletins and publishing only public relations news of the institutions, paying attention to field reports, data-driven journalism, human narratives, and addressing real issues of the people is an inevitable necessity. A media that is only a platform for reflecting the performance of ministries and organizations gradually distances itself from society; but a media that hears the voices of the people, narrates the pain, seeks the truth, and criticizes the authorities responsibly will be a national asset. If Journalist’s Day is to have a meaning beyond a ceremonial and calendar occasion, this day should be considered the starting point for the modernization of Iranian journalism; a day to return to the originality of news, uphold the truth, and restore public trust; an asset without which no media will survive.