Media: Where the Voices of the Local and the Diaspora Meet : Women-led Protests in Iran from September 2022 to March 2023

Sammanfattning: This degree project focuses on the representation and intersection of the voice of the Iranian local and the voice of the diaspora in international media, exploring the ‘unity’ of the local and the diaspora as put forth by media during the 2022 protests in Iran.  The death of Jinha Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman in police custody made international news headlines on 16 September 2022 and quickly became a transnational social movement for change against the repression of women in Iran. Making their ‘voices’ visible through the physical acts of protesting in the streets, burning their hijabs (headscarves) and cutting their hair, Iranian women carved out space for themselves in the local public sphere, but also on the global public sphere using social media, and by receiving international news coverage.  Data analysis of information gathered from five international news sources (BBC, Reuters, Al-Monitor, DW, and Al-Jazeera) during the first six months of the protests, highlights the role of international news media in informing audiences of unfolding events on the ground and as a vital platform for the voices of women in Iran and the diaspora, reinforcing the importance of media as a tool in Communication for Development.  As a result of the data analysis conducted, the role of the diaspora in amplifying voices from the ground, especially following internet blocks in Iran, was identified as a key factor of the transnational nature of the social movement in Iran. Interviews with four members of the diaspora shed further light on the complex dynamic between the local and the diaspora during social movements.  The degree project identifies news media as being in a powerful position to inform, raise awareness, and amplify voices while presenting an image of a unified front between the local and diaspora in the context of current protests. However, the true complexity of the relationship between the local and the diaspora is not presented in news media. With unique challenges posed by context, distance, and time, members of the diaspora wrestle with their identity as Iranian but also different, falling somewhere between the local and the global, which impacts their relationship with their home country.