Bakhtar-e Emruz (Persian: باختر امروز, lit.'Today's West') was a Persian-language daily newspaper published in the period 1949–1953. The paper is known for its founder and editor Hossein Fatemi, an executed journalist and minister of foreign affairs, and for its affiliation with the National Front. The title of the paper was a reference to two former newspapers which had been published and contributed by Fatemi, namely Bakhtar and Mard-i Imruz.[1][2]

Bakhtar-e Emruz
Founder(s)Hossein Fatemi
Editor
  • Nasrallah Sifta
  • Hossein Fatemi
Founded9 August 1949
Political alignmentNationalist
LanguagePersian
Ceased publication19 August 1953
HeadquartersTehran
CountryIran

History and profile

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Bakhtar-e Emruz was founded by Hossein Fatemi in 1949.[1][3] The first issue of the paper appeared on 9 August 1949.[1] Fatemi and Nasrallah Sifta were the co-editors.[1] The paper was close to the National Front and Mohammad Mosaddegh.[4][5] In fact, the paper became the official organ of the National Front from October 1949.[6] It was among the national publications which were critical of the Pahlavi rule, the Tudeh party and the Fascist groups.[7]

Fatemi's editorship continued until February 1952 when he survived, but was seriously injured in an assassination attempt.[1] The editorial board of the paper included Mohit Tabatabai, Jalali Naini, Rahmat Mostafawi, Sepehr Zabih, Nasser Amini, and Esmail Purvali.[1] Bakhtar-e Emruz had a format slightly longer than tabloid and covered national and international news.[1] It was banned by the Iranian authorities several times, and its editor, Fatemi, was jailed.[1] The paper was permanently shut down following the coup d'état which overthrown the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh.[8] In addition, the headquarters of the paper was attacked and burned by the supporters of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[6] The last issue of Bakhtar-e Emruz was published on 19 August 1953.[1]

Spin off

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Bakhtar-e Emrooz was revived by the National Front members in Europe in 1959.[6] The paper was also published in New York City between 1961 and 1966.[6][9] In the 1970s the exiled members of the National Front published a paper with the same title, Bakhtar-e Emruz, in Beirut.[10] The paper targeted Iranian students.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Bakhtar-e Emruz". Encyclopædia Iranica. December 1988.
  2. ^ Ebrahim Norouzi (25 April 2008). "Dr. Hossein Fatemi Biography". The Mossadegh Project. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  3. ^ Ali Rahnema (2014). Behind the 1953 Coup in Iran. Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers, and Spooks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 303. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139875974. ISBN 9781139875974.
  4. ^ Mervyn Roberts (November 2012). "Analysis of Radio Propaganda in the 1953 Iran Coup". Iranian Studies. 45 (6): 759–777. doi:10.1080/00210862.2012.726848. JSTOR 24482927. S2CID 162221817.
  5. ^ Huma Katouzian (2018). Khalil Maleki: The Human Face of Iranian Socialism. London: Oneworld Publications. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-78607-294-8.
  6. ^ a b c d Hassan Mohammadi Nejad (1970). Elite-Counterelite Conflict and the Development of a Revolutionary Movement: The Case of Iranian National Front (PhD thesis). Southern Illinois University Carbondale. pp. 82–83, 144, 152. ISBN 9798657957457. ProQuest 302536657.
  7. ^ Ahmad Faroughy (December 1974). "Repression in Iran". Index on Censorship. 3 (4): 15. doi:10.1080/03064227408532367. S2CID 143139528.
  8. ^ Stephen Kinzer (2003). All the Shah's Men. An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 180. ISBN 9780470185490.
  9. ^ "Persian journals and periodicals". University of Chicago Library. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  10. ^ Abbas William Samii (1997). "The Shah's Lebanon policy: the role of SAVAK". Middle Eastern Studies. 33 (1): 79. doi:10.1080/00263209708701142.
  11. ^ Donald Newton Wilber (2014). Iran, Past and Present: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic (9th ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 233. ISBN 9781400857470.