A media expert criticized the total absence of newspapers throughout the two-week Nowruz (Iranian New Year) holiday season that ended on April 3 calling it a “disaster.”
“Total absence of the print media for almost two weeks at a stretch has been a major problem for years, but no one has taken any action to address the situation,” Hassan Beheshtipour told ISNA.
The media is a reflection of the reality in a society and simply cannot be replaced by websites and/or news agencies that function during the holidays because newspapers deal with plethora of subjects and human interest stories, he said.
“Such a situation does not exist in any country…In many countries they even have special editions for holidays and weekends.”
He believes that the problem has economic roots although some associate the problem with political issues such as lack of freedom of speech for the press. “It is not economically viable for newspapers to print when the entire distribution system is off-duty during the holidays,” he explained.
He called on the authorities to address the long persisting problem by “reassessing and revising the print media distribution system to ensure that at least the widely-circulated newspapers and journals are available during the holidays.
