Reflection of Khorasan's Social Status during Constitutional Period in the Khorshid Newspaper

Based on the contents of Khorshid, an old local newspaper printed in Khorasan, northeastern of Iran, it has been tried, in present study, to examine various aspects of the social life in this area on the eve of the Constitutional Revolution. Accordingly, its content has been at the heart of a comprehensive review from the point of a historical view to answer the questions that in what social issues and crises the people of Khorasan were involved at that time, and what their conception of constitutionalism and its goals was. The results show that, affected by the political sphere and the situation of the country during the Constitutional Revolution, two issues are recognizable. Firstly, the newspaper's managers attempted to make the demands of the people highlighted, against the newly-formed political system and to reduce the burden of traditional tyranny on the people, focusing on social deficiencies such as: the absence of an efficient judicial system, poor performances of the rulers and the heavy domination of their ineffective ruling system on people, the situation of women and children, and the unfortunate health condition; and secondly, the crisis created against the Constitutionalism and newly established parliament and, ultimately, the dominance of the long standing political regime and the consolidation of the Mohammad Ali Shah's coup acted as serious obstacles against a state-owned association and, specifically, the Khorshid newspaper to reduce social deficiencies. The fear of more political constraints, the dominance of the ancient system and the domination of foreigners on Iran were also expanded to Khorasan, and through a pervasive discourse the newspaper began to propagate the need to strengthen and consolidate the army to protect the country.