Source:
August 8, 2010

When it comes to the struggle for freedom, justice and democracy, the media play an undisputed role in Iran. If there’s one thing all sides can agree upon, it is the importance of media since the birth of Iran’s Green Movement. The fact that Iran has been called the world’s worst jailer of prisoners is a testament to the Iranian authorities’ fear of free press and its potential.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic has followed a path of censorship. Year after a year, the Iranian people witnessed a gradual yet persistent assault on the free flow of information. One regulation after another, every measure was taken to ensure that Iranians would receive only images and sounds deemed by the authorities as “acceptable” and “appropriate.”

Since the monumental election fraud that occurred in June 2009, Iranian authorities have made no secret of how threatened they feel by satellite television stations such as the Voice Of America and BBC Persian. Shortly after the outbreak of last year’s spontaneous protests, the Islamic Republic launched a relentless jamming campaign against the two stations. While these and many other television channels and websites have been a thorn in the side of the governments, the absence of an independent television station dedicated to the aspirations of the Iranian people had always been felt.

For far too long, Iranians have either had to watch the state’s most effective propaganda machine, the so-called “national” television—with an outstanding commitment to spreading lies and falsifications—or to turn to foreign-based Persian-language television stations often funded by foreign governments which do not have the Iranian people’s interests at heart do not share the real concerns of the Iranian nation.

But that was before 5 August 2010!

On Thursday, an independent television station calling itself RASA (Resan-e Sabz-e Iran or Iran’s Green Media) officially announced on its website that the group would soon be launching a new television station dedicated to the Iranian people’s struggle for acheiving their most basic rights.

RASA has vowed to provide Iranians with forthright journalism and analyses as well as a genuine willingness to reflect the views of the Iranian people and to frankly discuss all issues related to Iran, something currently missing among its counterparts among the state-owned media apparatus.

In addition, RASA TV will most certainly play a significant role in flexing the Green Movement’s muscles beyond Iran’s major cities such as Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz and Mashhad. The ease and simplicity with which ordinary Iranians can obtain satellite television, means that the Green Movement will now be able to reach out to an ever larger audience in smaller cities and the most rural and remote corners of the country.

The launch of RASA TV will mean a new era in Iranian television news, as the Green Movement’s message will be beamed into millions of Iranian homes, providing a different perspective on events for a wider target audience.

RASA TV is hoping to break a monopoly on the flow of information held by Iran’s illegitimate government and the state’s deceptive broadcasters. It’s launch will surely revolutionise the Green Movement fight against the wall of censorship and filtering rigorously pursued by the state.

Already, viewers can get a glimpse of how RASA TV’s contents will look like. The video stream for the TV channel is provided by its website .

In addition, the television station’s Facebook page can also be accessed by click on