March 5, 2000 – Posted on Columbia University’s GULF2000 Website
Dariush Sajjadi
While thanking all Gulf 2000 members who presented their scholarly comments in favor of, or against, my article "Illusion" and thus debated Ms. Amanpour's "Revolutionary Journey", I would like to present a few points on the program.
In response to my article, Ms. Amanpour has tried to explain to me that I got the wrong impression from her documentary. She also noted that her aim in making the program was to offer a true picture of Iran's grand civilization.
Most people who watched the program, however, note that the documentary pitifully failed to reach this objective. Despite Ms. Amanpour's explanations about "Revolutionary Journey", I still believe that the program's analysis of Iranian events was not very professional.
Ms. Amanpour has noted that since 1991 she has devoted her professional capabilities to presenting a true and human picture of Iran. This is, indeed, true, but the problem is that perhaps her perception of her professional capabilities is far beyond the actuality.
Since 1991 I have closely observed Ms. Amanpour's programs. Even on a Tuesday night in 1997 when she was at the President's Office in Tehran to interview President Khatami and present his message to the American people through the CNN, I was the only journalist sitting in the next room and closely following her interview with the President.
For this reason, I was the first journalist in Iran to publish an article on her interview with the President the day after it was aired by the CNN. In that article, too, I explicitly declared that all through the interview Ms. Amanpour tried very hard to get a confession or commitment, though verbal, from the President that Iran would abstain from terrorist moves! And this was to serve as a precious token to give to US statesmen.
I am sorry that I have to repeat my observation on the inadequate analysis of Iranian developments in most programs Ms. Amanpour has made on Iran. In response to "Illusion", Ms. Amanpour has claimed that Iran's secular youth comprised only a small portion of her hour-long documentary.
But the actual fact is that the documentary is built around these youth and zooms in on them and their demands from the first to the last. Ms. Amanpour has also mentioned that she has received many messages thanking her for the documentary which claims to present a sublime picture of the Iranian civilization.
This is while, many GULF 2000 members and others have sent messages objecting to Ms. Amanpour's presentation of Iran and the reformist movement.
I would like to cordially advise Ms. Amanpour to either obtain a more profound knowledge of the history of Iran's developments or make programs on other parts of the world.
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