Thank you for your “Global Holiday” contest submissions. It was a tough call, but over the coming days I will announce our winners. Today’s winner gives us a peek into winter solstice traditions in Iran. Take it away, Maryam Zolecki!
If you can’t hear the audio below, listen on YouTube.
In the last year, I have stopped watching TV news and the Sunday morning talking-heads shows. I now get my news from various newspapers and magazines online (and Jon Stewart). Of course, like most people, I gravitate to news sources that affirm my core beliefs. We all like to feel like we “get it.” The good news is that I probably spend six hours a week less time getting my “news.” My challenge: to break out of the idea incest so many of us suffer from when we choose our news sources.
A year ago, I had a hunch that there would be more demands on my time than ever, and that the political discussions on TV would be less productive than ever. (How many hours have you dedicated to following the health care “debate” in the last year? And, looking back, what did that earn you?) And I also had a strong feeling that the shapers of public opinion were corrupt — men and women who were selling their souls to get on the air or keep their advertisers happy, or worse, were actually secretly paid consultants of corporations with an agenda. Then, recently, in The Nation (an admittedly very liberal magazine, March 1, 2010 issue), I read Sebastian Jones’ article “The Media-Lobbying Complex.” Here’s an excerpt:
President Obama spent a day touring Allentown, Pennsylvania, meeting with local workers and discussing the economic crisis. A few hours later, Pennsylvania’s former governor, Tom Ridge, was on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, offering up his own recovery plan. He said, “The real answer for the White House is for the president to take his green agenda and blow it out of the box.” The first step, Ridge explained, was to “create nuclear power plants.” This was an “innovation setter” that would “create jobs and create exports.” While Ridge was presented as and sounded like an objective commentator, TV viewers weren’t told that in the last five years he’s received over half a million dollars serving on the board of Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power company (or that he owns a quarter million dollars of their stock). I believe marketers at Exelon gave him those talking points.
Moments earlier, on the same show, retired general and “NBC Military Analyst” Barry McCaffrey told viewers that the war in Afghanistan would require an additional “three- to ten-year effort” and “a lot of money.” He’s the perfect on-air package combining the credibility and service history of a US general with the likability of a caring grandpa. I wanted to like him and believe him. And for years I have. But MSNBC neglected to tell viewers that McCaffrey, their “military analyst,” was paid nearly $200,000 this year alone by DynCorp. Our government had just granted DynCorp a five-year $6 billion deal to supply American forces in Afghanistan. The first year is locked in at $644 million, but the additional four options are subject to renewal, contingent on military needs and political realities. And a man who served his country with such nobility is now selling his soul by using his credibility to get in on the easy money lavished on our military by promoting his benefactor on air in the guise of news analysis. DynCorp gives McCaffrey his talking points and, encouraged by a fawning “news anchor,” a naïve populace believes him. People die, debt grows, and some get wealthy.
In a single hour, two men with blatant, undisclosed conflicts of interest had appeared on MSNBC.
For years, like most of the American public, I let consultants like these shape my opinion about important issues like war and energy. All news in America (even PBS news) is a mix of news, entertainment, and propaganda. We can’t hope for CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News to provide serious journalism. But we can hope that Americans understand how corporate interests shape the political discourse in our nation these days.
By simply no longer watching, I find there’s less political noise in my world and more time to simply live. And I don’t even miss the talking heads I once thought were a plus in my life. (My practical time-saving tip: I get my news at stray, otherwise wasted moments throughout the day from my iPhone apps.)
How does a conservative or liberal get news that challenges rather than affirms their beliefs? As a traveler, I went to El Salvador three times — both during and after their civil war — to get a handle on that complicated struggle. I went to Iran to understand the mindset of the people who elected their president. I toured the medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland to understand that situation; I followed up that trip by spending a day at a (drug company-sponsored) convention of doctors and pharmacists learning about the addictive qualities of cannabis; and then I took Seattle’s top narcotics cop out for dinner. I went to Tijuana when headlines told of beheadings there in the drug wars. And I went to Shanghai to feel the energy of the new Chinese economic power. I even went to Papua New Guinea to see if modern Christian mission work had progressed beyond “bras and Bibles.” Sure, you can learn lots by going on “field trips.” But trips like these are both time- and money-consuming.
Way back in 1973, I took a high school elective class called “Understanding the Media.” Today, understanding the media would be considered subversive and certainly not worthy of public school curriculum. But we can share insights and tips with each other. How can we use the media to better understand what the heck’s going on? After all…that’s what the news media is for.
A year after our Iran TV special aired, I still get feedback from Iranians in America thankful for our public television work. Now, as the protests in Iran persist, our government is encouraged to get more involved. Who knows the best action for the Iranian people? But my strong hunch is that Iranians need to earn their freedom (as France, the USA, and South Africa all did), and support in spirit from the USA is the most we should give. I believe (given the power of modern government propaganda) that concrete action in their support from the USA would actually hurt the students on the street. They would then be discredited as puppets of the USA, and a groundswell of politically naive and frightened Iranians would crush them.
The following letter, which I just received (and appears here with all its charming typos intact), gives a touching insight into the spirit I felt while in Iran. It is the spirit of a grassroots movement hungry for freedom.
Hi Rick,
My name is amir. I born in Isfahan on 1974 and I came to US. on 2001. It was too hard to get immigration visa and come to your beautiful and toppest country in the world. We went to Dubai and then Abu dhabi to get visa and I was so excited to see an American flag hangs on the building. I was excited to see inside the Embassy also. I got black stamp in my passport and crying that I couldn’t get it. it was for 2000. on 2001 we went to istanbul and then Ankara and I saw American big flag that moving with breeze and hang on the building and we can not see american flag that hangs in Iran. I came to us and we landed in seattle first and i was so excited. we are walking in u.s. land finally. on the first trip on 2004 i saw American embassy again in Tehran and I saw those ad on the walls again. we are tired to violence to America and American Flag. Say new dialog. it is not only just my opinion not. it is many Iranian voice. We can not change many things but we are try.
For this christmas I got your dvd iran and I didnt belive that one of my American friend give it to me as a gift. I watched it 3 time and I cry…
I will go back to Isfahan on march Also I will buy your dvd and give it to my American friends.
we Love Americans sorry if sometimes in iran say something or violence to American flag. On 4th july I saw that howmuch Americans love their flag and in Iran they burn American flag.
sorry -we get shy to see that
amir 35 years -california
Last year we traveled together via this blog through Iran. That experience inspired me to write my Travel as a Political Act book. And since then, my life has been enriched by lots of connections with people who care about peace with the Muslim world. For instance, two nights ago I shared a stage at Seattle’s Town Hall with Gina Salá, an amazing musician who bridges cultures in her music (www.ginasala.com) at a fundraiser for the Voices Education Project. With both music and travelogue, Gina and I helped bring the world to Seattle.
Yesterday I got a fun surprise: The Society of American Travel Writers awarded Rick Steves’ Iran with the Gold Medal in the “Special Package/Project” category. While there was a “Travel Broadcast Video” category, the Society decided to award our Iran program not just on the show itself, but on the way we used many multimedia components to engage with the viewers: our related radio interviews, newspaper columns, website, vodcasts, online discussion boards, the $5 Iran DVD for groups initiative (in which we sent the DVD to over 7,000 community groups), the printed Iran journal, and my lectures across the country. Our hope to humanize a country of 70 million people was selected for being a multimedia extravaganza! How exciting!
So many people worked very hard to make this campaign what it is. I am thankful to have such a great team to collaborate with. Here are the judges’ official comments on our project:
Category 10: Special Package/Project Gold: Rick Steves, “Rick Steves’ Iran: Yesterday and Today,” multimedia This is a gold winner for two reasons — the challenging subject and the extraordinary presentation across multiple media. Rick Steves takes us on this unusual journey with a public television special, radio program, Web site with audio, video, links and reader feedback, newspaper reports, day-by-day travel blog and color booklet.
While I generally go about my merry travel writing way without concerning myself with the world of other travel writers, I have great respect for the SATW and am honored to be recognized by them for our Iran project. Just last month, we made our Iran show into a pledge special that will be airing all over the USA this winter, giving the program new life and (we hope) further raising awareness of the struggles of good people living under a bad government.
It’s interesting to see what other awards were given to America’s many fine travel writers. Learn about this year’s awards.
Readers have been asking me for my take on the situation now unfolding in Iran. How have my experiences filming a public television show there last year shaped my impressions of current events?
I plan to explain my thinking about this issue in an op-ed piece for the Seattle Times,which is scheduled to run in next Sunday’s edition (June 28). Since we don’t know how this situation will end, of course it’s far too early to talk about cause and effect. But, as someone who has traveled to Iran recently, this is my hunch:
When I visited Iran a year ago, I sensed that they would eventually win their freedom — but it had to be on their own terms. Crucially, what’s going on today in Iran is an organic process, not something brought about by foreign meddling. In my mind, this gives it a legitimate chance of success, and our stance so far of simply staying out of their way is the best thing we can do.
However, even if we have no direct involvement with the Iranian protests, I like to think that we have contributed to the cause of Iranian freedom in some way. When I was in Iran and our own presidential election was heating up, it occurred to me that the Bush (and, seemingly, McCain) policy of tough-talking rhetoric might actually empower Iran’s leaders to more effectively preach their message of fear and hate. But under an Obama Administration, our government’s attitude (if not our policy) about how to engage the Muslim world has changed. President Obama’s stated philosophy of respect and listening makes it harder to demonize the US, and the “Death to America” chants don’t quite have the gravity they once did. I have to wonder if our president’s more respectful stance toward the Muslim world might have had some effect on events there today (and particularly on Ahmadinejad’s ability to harness his people’s anger against us).
I do find it fascinating that rather than our government radicalizing the Iranian masses, it’s the Iranian government itself that is radicalizing its masses. And by drawing a line in the sand, as their supreme leader did last week, they may have underestimated their young population’s passion for freedom.
(PS: I’d like to assure those of you who wondered why I removed my longer entry on this subject from the blog — and suspected I couldn’t handle the hot topic — that I don’t consider this very hot. I just wanted to use much of that material in my op-ed piece in a big-city newspaper rather than here. Sorry. I’ll bring it back when I can.)