U.S.'s Powerful Weapon in Iran: TV

The letter, written in Farsi, was as tantalizingly mysterious as the videotape it was wrapped around. "Excuse the unprofessional quality of the video," wrote the sender, a young Iranian. "We didn't want to attract authorities by using a production crew."

On the tape was a jolting series of interviews with frustrated Iranians complaining about their country's stalled political reforms and the repressiveness of its ruling mullahs.

The unsolicited video was sent not to the C.I.A. but to the young Iranian cast of "Next Chapter," a hip, new MTV-inspired television show broadcast from the Voice of America headquarters here and beamed to Iran via satellite. "We know that so many young people in Iran are fed up, and they just want to be heard," said Roozbeh Mazhari, 29, one of the hosts of "Next Chapter," referring to the sandwiching of the tape. "But they also want some fun."

While the United States is bracing for a possible military offensive in Iraq, behind the scenes a soft war is well under way. It is aimed at winning the hearts and minds of young people in the Middle East at a time when radical Islamists are encouraging anti-American sentiment.

In Iran, dissatisfaction with the Islamic regime has been building for years. In recent weeks, it has led to pro-democracy protests in the streets of Tehran over the death sentence given to a reformist scholar. This sea change has created new opportunities for influencing opinion.

"Next Chapter," which had its debut on Sept. 10, is one of several recent projects that are are putting a new spin on old-fashioned American propaganda.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, the government agency that oversees Voice of America, received $35 million this year to start a youth-oriented Middle Eastern radio network. (Voice of America's programs are run by journalists, and their content is not subject to State Department approval.) The network, called Radio Sawa ("sawa" means "together" in Arabic), sprinkles news tidbits written from an American perspective into a heavy rotation of American and Middle Eastern pop music.

Later this month the board will begin broadcasting a similarly formatted $8 million venture in Iran called Radio Farda ("farda" means "tomorrow" in Farsi).

Some believe that soft tactics are far wiser than military might. "America is so much more than its military and economic prowess," said Reza Ladjevardian, 36, an Iranian writer based in Houston. "The people of Iran have seen that fundamentalism doesn't work. Appealing to them with cooperation and reasoning, rather than `axis of evil' talk, is a virtually risk-free proposition for the U.S."

A recent entertainment segment, for instance, profiled the Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who did not have a word to say about Iran or Iranians but talked movingly about fleeing a repressive regime for political and artistic freedom.

Another segment showed Iranian students at the University of Maryland enjoying Mehregan, a traditional Persian fall festival, without mentioning directly what viewers in Iran already know: that this secular holiday's celebration is discouraged by the country's religious leaders.

"We need to get this generation ready for something new," said Ahmad Baharloo, who directs Voice of America's Farsi service and is executive producer of "Next Chapter." "We don't want to tell them what to do, but make them look and think and respond to logic."

Still, there is evidence of a sprouting fan base. Amateur videos, like the one from London, have arrived from Iranians in Japan and Seattle. Web hits to Voice of America's Farsi service, at http://voanews.com/farsi/, spiked by the hundreds in the weeks after the show's premiere.

k As a child in Iran in 1979, Ms. Farid, 29, watched American news clips of the hostage crisis at the United States Embassy in Tehran. "I remember yelling at the TV," she said. "I would say: `Those stupid journalists! They keep saying Iran has taken America hostage. Don't they know it's just a small group of bad people? Don't they know we don't all hate America?' "

She says the experience helps her understand what it must be like for Iranian youth who now feel marked by the "axis of evil" label.

The cast of "Next Chapter" is still struggling for the right balance in content. The program has referred to the recent student protests in Iran in its brief news segment, but so far it has avoided commenting on them.

Still, some messages are getting through. On a recent Tuesday night in Tehran, four men and two women sat around a 29-inch television in the home of Pooya, a 30-year-old rug merchant, waiting to watch the show.

The friends giggled over the cast members' Farsi, which they said sounded a bit too American and informal. And they weighed in on the movie and car reports, which they agreed were cool.

The show opened with a segment on the American Humane Society and the importance of protecting animals: a seemingly mundane topic but timely in Iran. One of the country's hard-line Muslim clerics had recently declared dogs unclean and called on security forces to stop people from walking them in public. As the group listened intently, Pooya's younger brother, Ali, patted the family dog and nodded his approval.

The show, is simulcast on the radio n on the net

source: The New York Times

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