The document provides a timeline and overview of key events related to Iran's nuclear program in late September and early October 2009. It summarizes media coverage of these events from US print media, US broadcast media, UK print media, Iranian print and broadcast media, and new media. The summary analyzes the sources, perspectives, language, and balance/objectivity of coverage across these various media. It finds that US and UK coverage focused more on Western perspectives, while Iranian media relied mostly on Iranian sources and at times pushed an anti-West agenda. New media displayed the most balanced coverage with multiple sources and opinions.

1. Timeline
Iran’s nuclear
programme
Barack Obama, Gordon
Brown and Nicolas
Sarkozy meet in
Pittsburgh to discuss
Iran’s new uranium
enrichment plant at Qom
Iran tests
long range
missiles
25 September
28 September
The 5+1 group
and Iran hold talks
in Geneva
1 October
4 October
A date is set for
the IAEA
inspection of
the plant at Qom
19 October
Further
talks held
in Vienna
How were the
events covered?

2. What we Analysed
 The US Print Media
 The US Broadcast Media
 The British Print Media
 The Iranian Print and Broadcast Media
 New Media

4. US Print

5. US Print
 Sources
 Mainly American sources
 Many vague, unnamed sources

6.  Perspective
 Strong American perspective
 had more points of view than
US Print
Possibility of a
Nuclear-Armed Iran
Alarms Arabs
Iran Defends ‘Rights’
to Run Its Newly
Declared Plant
China Opposes Iran
Sanctions Sought
by U.S.
Russia Resists U.S.
Position on
Sanctions for Iran

7. US Print
 Language
 U.S. and Allies Warn Iran Over Nuclear ‘Deception’ by David E.
Sanger and William J. Broad
 President Obama and his allies raced Friday to use their
revelation of a secret Iranian nuclear enrichment plant as
long-sought leverage against Tehran
 In a day of high drama at an economic summit meeting,
American, British and French officials ...
 By today the Iranians were aggressively arguing that the plant
was a “semi-industrial fuel enrichment facility” and that they
voluntarily made its existence public

8. US Print
 Language
 Disclosure of Iran site raises nuclear, diplomatic tensions by
Greg Miller and Jim Tankersley
 Dramatically heightening the international confrontation over
Iran …
 But there are reasons that Bush may have been reluctant to
launch a military strike …
 … questions about whether the country’s nuclear program can
any longer be crippled by a military strike.

9. Fact sheet
 Analysed 18 news reports from:
 Analysis based on
 News angle
 Balance
 Sourcing
 Clips and quotes
 Objectivity

10. News Angles
News channel Number of
videos
News Angles
Iran US Others
CNN 6 2 3 1
ABC 4 0 4
CBS 4 0 4
NBC 4 1 3

11. Balance
 covered the entire affair in a very wholesome
manner. The news angles taken are evidence to the kind of
balanced coverage given to both the parties.
 While the news report – ‘Iran blasted for nuclear’
program is very finely balanced with reaction and counter
reaction exchanged between Iran and US and other
western countries.
 The report ‘Iran’s war games’ is just a reactionary report
of the American countries.

12. Sources
 Positives:
 Ray Takeyh from Council on Foreign Relation gave very valid
and foreseeing suggestions
 He suggested that Russia and China would have to be made
key allies
 Oil and extraction technology related sanction would to more
successful in subduing Iran’s nuclear agenda
 Negative:
 Only 4 Iranian officials and made an appearance on the
international and American television news
 Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, Saeed Jalili [Iran’s chief nuclear
negotiator, Hasan Qashqavi [Iran’s foreign minister] and Iran’s
defense minister whose name was too unimportant for a CBS
reporter to even mention

13. Quotes and Clips
 Positives:
 report titled “Iran blasted for nuclear program”
 Negative:
 No other report could match the blatant sensationalist tone of
“Obama’s missile crisis”
 The senator from South Carolina says “we are heading for an
Armageddon”
 A think tank person, Graham Alison sums up the situation as
“a Cuban missile crisis in slow motion”

14. Objectivity
 Example: Senator Lindsay Graham from South Carolina [on
]reacting to the missile fired by Iran on the 28th
of September “Israel is at risk…”
 World news with Charlie Gibson “United States still has that
option [of a military attack] on table and Israel almost
certainly has that option”
 Juan Zarate on “…the international community better
act before Israel takes matters in their own hands”

16. UK Print

17. Language
 - short and to the point but very sensationalised for
example “British James Bonds” – 26 September
 The - clear and easy to understand
 The - longer and more detailed
 Both the Daily Mail and the Guardian not sensationalised

18. Sources
 - foreign office contacts and various think thanks
 - equal amount of sources used from both sides
 - well sourced

19. Balance
 All the newspapers have balanced stories, but some have
more than others
 - “Relations with Iran were moving from
“confrontation” to “co-operation” Quote from Mohamed
ElBaradel (5 October)
 - `` Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
at a press conference in New York:' We don’t have any
problems with (IAEA) inspections of the facility” (26
September)

20. Perspectives
 and the are biased because they are
written for a British audience.
 - can’t conclude, if it is one way or the other

21. Findings
 All the coverage is biased because it looks at
western sides.
 All are well sourced
 All explain what is happening

23. Iranian Media

24. Sources
 The had almost exclusively Iranian sources
 Several stories had a single source
 Stories read like press releases
 had more foreign sources and perspective but was
guilty of cherry picking
 had the most balanced range of sources
BRAZIL PRESIDENT
BACKS IRAN NUCLEAR
PROGRAM
TURKEY, IRAQ WARN
AGAINST NEW
SANCTIONS ON IRAN

25. Language
 Made the assumption that what its sources said was true
 Sensational headlines that are direct quotes
In response to a
question about the
western states’
ballyhoo about
iran’s peaceful
nuclear studies
Commenting on the
unjustified clamour
raised by some
western countries
Iran informed
IAEA 18 MONTHS
Before startup of
new facility
propagANDA
CAMPAIGN MEANT TO
MARGINALISE IRAN
AHEAD OF NUCLEAR
TALKS
IRAN WILL ACCEPT NO
PRECONDITION AT
GENEVA TALKS

26. Unjustified Stories and Leads
 The story did not justify the lead
 The source of the story is not fully explained
TURKEY, IRAQ WARN
AGAINST NEW
SANTIONS ON IRAN
IAEA – No nuclear
material inside
iran’s new plant
Iran may
consider
withdrawing
from NPT

27. PERSPECTIVES
 Treated as a reaction story rather than a news story
 The seemed to be pushing an anti-West agenda
 decided to critique the Western media
 No perspective offered on missile tests
239 MPs caution 5+1
group to utilise
opportunity
Obama made a
‘historic mistake’:
ahmedinejad

28. New Media

29.  Fair and impartial hearing, different opinions
 “… they have chosen to make the news public after an
unspecified intelligence breakthrough”
 “Iran's leaders see negotiations as a way to buy time and
avoid international sanctions”
 Multiple Sources and quotes
 Formal language
 Opinion articles, Analysis

30.  Multiple sources and quotes (US diplomats, experts, nuclear
scientists, quotes from politicians’ speeches)
 US- centred articles –
 “Obama strikes a tough tone on Iran”
 “Initial discussions with Iran look promising”
 Objectivity
 Formal language

31.  Only Western sources (US officials, Western media, quotes
from Obama and Brown)
 Formulaic chronology of events
 “The Iranians have cheated three times. And they have now
been caught three times.”
 Sensationalized language, irony, exclamations (Aha, cool)
 Journalism of assertion rather than of verification

32.  Shows the bias UK and US media have against Iran
 “The lunacy of the current propaganda campaign against Iran
is bad enough. The fact that it comes so soon after the lies on
Iraq makes it far worse”
 Sources: British and American Media, quotes from Noam
Chomsky
 Language Style: sensationalized, angry, ironic, logical
 Formulaic chronology of events: Purpose to show that Iranians
are unfairly treated

33. US AND UK MEDIA IRANIAN MEDIA
Obama accuses Iran of
building secret nuclear plant
Iran building nuclear plant
Western diplomats said Iran
came clean on the Qom site to
the IAEA in September only
after learning that US, French
and British spy services had
discovered it and Western
leaders were about to blow the
whistle.
Iran informed IAEA 18 months
before startup of new facility
IAEA secret report: Iran
worked on nuclear warhead
IAEA: No nuclear material
inside Iran's new plant
War of Words

34. PRESENTED BY
 Ilonka Oudenampsen
 Priyanka Salve
 Geraldine Lennon
 Dustin Silgardo
 Nektaria Stamouli