Objectivity in the Iranian Press: A Comparative Study of Hamshahri, Iran, and Jame-jam

This article is the result of a research on objectivity in Iranian press. The research is based on the pattern suggested by Mndych. The pattern raises four attributes for objective news: a) use of neutral language, b) inclusion of all parties to a story, c) fairness, and d) presenting the facts based on their importance and balance. Applying a quantitative content analysis we studied news categories, dimension, reflecting on opposing points of views, causes and consequences of the news, news background, source, bias, removing headlines, distortion and the consistency of the title and content. The systematic sampling of each of the three newspapers, Hamshahri, Iran, and Jame-jam led to the selection of 24 copies of them in 2013 and we focused on their political news. The results show that 32 percent of the news were completely objective. News in Hamshahri newspaper are significantly less objective than those in Jame-jam. In order to validate the analysis, we also interviewed six journalism professors. They though that because of its history and status, higher levels of objectivity are expected in Hamshahri newspaper. However, its engagement in political debates prevents the newspaper to be objective and unbiased.