Iran’s Press and News Agencies Exhibition is not just about media outlets’ taking advantage of an opportunity to represent themselves in their beautifully-constructed pavilions; it turns into a massive ground of various activities, the wonderful hustle and bustle of journalists, general public, political figures, cinema and music celebrities, athletes, government officials, academics, all gathered in a massive building of 50,000 square meters at Tehran Grand Musalla.
The Press expo offers a unique opportunity for over 700 active news agencies in Iran to invite people of importance to their pavilions and conduct their interviews there. This way, the general public gets front row seats to all the glimmer and sparkle that make up the world of media as they go from one pavilion to another, poking their heads inside to check out that movie star here or listen live to that famous athlete there. It is a lively, exhilarating event, for all parties involved, and now in its 21st year, Iran’s Press and News Agencies Exhibition is witnessing yet another seven-day phenomenon jam-packed with everything that in the eyes of the general public always standing outside the media hype, perhaps seemed impossible to get a glimpse of.
The pavilions seem to be in some sort of competition with one another: who has invited the most number of figures for interviews, who has managed to get their hands on that celebrity that other agencies had been unable to get a hold on first. ‘Oh wait, was that man who was rushed into that pavilion the famous pop star whose concert I just went to last week?’ And there goes the tidal wave of enthusiastic fans crowding outside of Mehr News Agency pavilion for a chance to take a selfie with the famous pop star.
The expo has a very tight schedule, squeezing a great number of activities in the seven-day event; workshops follow one another. A number of foreign news agencies and newspapers that have offices in Tehran as well as several foreign journalists who have also been invited to the exhibition attend conferences to introduce their agencies and speak about relevant regional topics: AFP, AP, French daily newspaper Le Figaro, Japan’s Yomiuri, Rossiya Segodnya and German Federation of Journalists, to name a few. There is also some entertainment planned for school children who have chosen the Press Exhibition as their destination for a school trip. They are loud and energetic, posing for group photos, popping colorful balloons and running through the halls stacked with news agencies whose newspapers they have most likely seen in the hands of their parents.
Niloofar, a twenty-five year old dentist, standing outside a specially crowded pavilion, seems to have her attention completely drawn to an interview of a government official flocked by photographers and reporters; “I’m not really into politics,” she shrugs, “but I always wanted to know how journalists conducts their interviews. Maybe I’ll change my career some day!” She laughs.
Of course, if watching journalists in action is not enough, for those who are interested in taking up a career in journalism, there are special seminars planned that can serve as a good introduction. I checked out one in which the lecturer was giving pointers on how a news item should be developed. It was jam-packed.
In Iran, just as anywhere else in the world, the media plays a vital role, as essential as our daily needs. The flow of information is important for the development of communities which is facilitated by the media. Were it not for the wide array of information the media feeds to the public, people’s opinions would be limited to their own personal experiences, which isn’t really much. The media shoulders a great responsibility in the society and in turn, the government too must abide by its commitments to the press. Attending the inauguration ceremony of the exhibition on Sunday, President Rouhani was especially attentive to this dynamic link between the government and the press, as well as the press and the society. President Rouhani, while advocating the freedom of the press, maintained that “the worst kind of premature death is that of the press which is trampled under baseless criticism even before it has gained the opportunity to introduce itself.”
With only 30 minutes left to the end of the fourth day of the exhibition, the hustle and bustle hasn’t died down a bit. There seems to be not a moment of respite. The journalists are on a roll, conducting interviews left and right. Everyday till Friday, from 9 in the morning till 8 in the afternoon, the media exhibition is welcoming everyone who is interested to get a taste of the so-called exclusive world of media people. It isn’t just about words on a paper you buy from the kiosk every morning to work. It is a whole life all in its own right. Perhaps you would like to join?
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