Important notes on Transparency, Validity, and Discourse Analysis

When engaging with news about Iran (or any information for that matter), we all want to know that the information we are engaging with is accurate/true. 

Why? 

Well, one reason (amongst many) it is important to know "the truth" is because our everyday decisions and how we affect the lives of one another individually and globally depend on how we view the world. This view is informed by the information that we are given. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the information we are given is accurate so that we can analyze and decide accordingly. 

So how would we make sure that what we are reading is accurate/describing reality? 

Traditionally, the way that we (in, at least, Western academic tradition) evaluate whether or not something is accurate is by looking at the source of the information. There are 3 main types of sources;

1. Primary Sources

• generally considered the "most accurate"/"closest to the truth"

• these include things like original documents, first-hand accounts, eye-witness testimony, observational data etc...

2. Secondary Sources

   • analysis of primary sources like book reviews, essays, textbooks, journal articles 

   • generally considered "less accurate" than primary sources 

3. Tertiary Sources 

   • can be analysis or summaries of secondary sources

   • can be used to identify primary and secondary sources i.e. wikipedias, encyclopedias, library databases etc... 

(source) 

This sounds fairly straightforward, right? Primary sources are better than secondary sources which are better than tertiary sources. Easy. 

However, this isn't really possible in the case of Iran. The authoritarian Islamic Regime maintains control of nearly any information that is spread about it both within the country and outside of the country. Therefore, anything that is deemed as "factual" by the government, from reports about the environment to social demographics, is not to be trusted. 

However, this changed when people inside of Iran gained access to social media and were able to generate direct testimony in the form of posts, tweets, videos, pictures, etc... (primary sources). It is also why the Islamic Regime is so stringent about wanting to maintain control over the internet. If it weren't for smugglers and the ingenuity of the Iranian people constantly circumventing government restrictions/censorship, the Islamic Regime would have full control of the narrative and we, outside of Iran, likely would have never known what is really going on inside Iran. 

Even though primary sources are considered to be the "most accurate", this is by no means a fool-proof system. There are still things that can distort the reality of the situation such as bias (inherent, conscious/unconscious, purposeful/unintentional), intention, expertise, who the person/people are that are reporting it, and method of measurement. (see this link for more information). There are ways to circumvent these obstacles such as comparing primary sources, verifying by seeing the phenomenon yourself, recreating the data in the case of an experiment, and simply acknowledging your own limitations/biases so that others who do not have those same limitations/biases can do more research/verification. 

What makes it especially difficult in the case of Iran is that it is hard to verify information because journalists/researchers are either government-sponsored/affiliated, jailed, or have to remain anonymous for their own safety. Much of this information can also only really be verified/accessed inside of Iran. Journalists/researchers outside of Iran have to get permission from the Islamic Regime to do journalism or conduct research. If they stray from what the government wants, which is only appraisal regardless of fact/reality, they face jail time, or even death. This has made it difficult, if not impossible, to conduct any real research over the past 44 years. 

However, it seems that the people of Iran have figured out their own way of getting to the truth and verifying sources. The analysis of this method and its sociocultural implications is called "discourse analysis". 

Most of the information that is on this website is based off of social media posts, news articles, and political commentators. The rest of the information is based on my own experiences, (things that I've been told about Iran by my parents, for example) and my undergrad level of education (which I have not yet completed). 

The goal of this website isn't to always be perfect when reporting on the information, but to analyze and explain the accuracy of the information as well as to discuss the information itself in the hopes of being able to get to the bottom of what is happening in Iran and ways to help. If you want to support this project, please follow my posts on reddit as I try to give updates every week on the progress of this project, ways to help, as well as the things I have learned about Iran. (link: https://www.reddit.com/user/WoLF_of_Democracy). Even just upvoting is a lot of help. You can also contact me directly on reddit and twitter (@WoLFofDemocracy). (last edit: wednesday february 22, 2023)

Sources

1. Brock University. (2023, February 2). Evaluating Information Sources. External Analysis Research . Retrieved February 22, 2023, from https://researchguides.library.brocku.ca/external-analysis/evaluating-sources

2. University of California Merced. (2022, August 5). Primary, secondary and tertiary sources: Source types. LibGuides at University of California Merced. Retrieved February 22, 2023, from https://tinyurl.com/4e4ckc2b