Foreign journalists amazed by size of Tehran exhibition
The 23rd Press Exhibition was held in Iran’s capital, Tehran, with many visitors flocking to pavilions of Iranian news media to meet the staff of their favorite newspapers as well as news stations and websites and learn more about them.
In addition to senior Iranian officials and artistes, including cineastes, foreign journalists made up a cross section of the visitors to the expo.
Since the opening day of exhibition on October 27, a number of foreign reporters and journalists have visited Iran Daily’s pavilion to know more about the paper.
An interesting point they all acknowledged was that they have never been to a press exhibition before, let alone one of such an enormous size.
Surprised by number, variety
Flavia Barbosa, a Brazilian journalist who works as an editor for the business and economic section of Redacao O Globo — a daily national newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro, said she had been invited by the Iranian embassy in her country to take a one-week trip, starting from October 27, to Iran and visit the press expo in the Iranian capital.
She added she had attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition held on October 28.
“I walked around the expo and talked to a number of people [either in charge of the pavilions or ordinary visitors]. Over the course of this trip, I also visited the central Iranian city of Isfahan which was a very interesting city with beautiful tourist sites and astounding historical places.”
She said the reason for her trip to Iran, concurrent with the press expo, was to exchange information with Iranian journalists, gain more information and knowledge about the Middle Eastern state and have the opportunity to meet Iranian people and officials face-to-face.
She said they do not hold any press exhibitions in Brazil, adding media outlets in her country usually hold conferences which are, in fact, mostly reunions of editors and publishers to discuss issues related to media industry such as the state of publicity, moving from print media to digital ones and those government policies that may, to some extent, have bearings on the media of the country.
“We do not have press exhibitions. Nevertheless, we hold television industry expos, mostly attended by TV producers, to present their latest projects and products such as TV shows.”
Commenting on Tehran Press Expo, she said it has been very interesting for her to visit this exhibition.
“I had no idea that the number of press and media publications in Iran is this big. I thought there are only general media and newspapers, such as Iran Newspaper and Iran Daily, in Iran, but much to my surprise, I realized that a large number of magazines related to segments such as women, health and sports are also published in the country. I had no idea that the country has such a large number of publications. It has been very interesting to me to also exchange information with a number of Iranian journalists and have the opportunity to talk to people face-to-face.”
Jealous of size, number
Agnieszka Piwar, a Polish journalist who works at a weekly called Myśl Polska — a conservative old and private magazine — said unlike all the other media in Poland, the main focus of her magazine is on the developments and issues of the East. Piwar said this was her ¿rst visit to Iran which would last for a week.
“I was invited to take this trip by the Iranian Embassy in Poland. Back in my country, I only write about Iran and issues pertinent to this country and conduct interviews with Iranian of¿cials as well as scienti¿c and religious ¿gures.”
Commenting on the expo, she said this was a very big exhibition. She added in Poland, they do not hold any press exhibitions as they do not have the same number of large media as Iran does. “In fact, I am jealous because we do not have this number of media publications.”
Amazing multiplicity
Patricia Campos Mello, an editor at large and a columnist at Folha de S.paulo — a newspaper with the largest circulation in Brazil, said her visit to Iran was aimed at having direct contact with government of¿cials and people on streets, know how the country and its people are and learn about Iranians’ attitudes and ideas in an unmediated way and free from the ¿ltration of foreign media. “Iran has been under Western sanctions for so many years. Our newspaper had a correspondent in Middle Eastern state for over three years. We, however, closed the of¿ce due to ¿nancial issues.”
On the expo, she said this exhibition is very interesting, adding she had expected Iran to have only state-run media and very few media outlets.
The multiplicity of media publications has surprised me.
No English translation?
Carmen Mihalascu de Otero, the editor-in-chief of Mundo Internacional based in the Mexican capital of Mexico City, said Tehran press exhibition was very interesting.
She added that during her trip to the Middle Eastern country, she had visited Tehran and Isfahan and maintained that Isfahan was a very interesting and clean city. The Mexican journalist stressed that the central Iranian city should be further promoted as a tourist destination for foreign visitors.
She added that it would be a good idea to have more interaction with foreign media in this exhibition in the future and to provide foreign visitors to the expo with English the name and ¿eld of activity of each media publication in English.
De Otero’s compatriot and colleague, Miguel Angel Otero Tamayo, said this was the ¿rst time he was visiting Iran, adding he was very surprised to ¿nd the country a very modern state.
Tamayo, who also works at Mundo Internacional as an editorin-chief, noted that during his visit to Iran, he also took a trip to Isfahan. The Mexican journalist maintained that the historical city was very beautiful. Tamayo said they hold no exhibition particular press exhibition in Mexico but we do have maybe more like in the advertising and public relations.
Commenting on Tehran press expo, he said it is very interesting to see the broad variety of the media in the country.
He, however, regretted that the names and ¿elds of the media publications were not presented in English. “We can only guess what sectors or ¿elds they belong to only by looking at their pictures as there is no explanation about them in English.”
Tamayo, along with his compatriot De Otero, said that he is going to publish a report on Iran and the press expo when he gets back to Mexico.