In an interview with IBNA, Abdollah Bicheranlou, a PhD graduate of Philosophy, Communication and Media Studies and author of the book ‘The Visage of Iran in Western TV Documentaries,’ said that documentaries are influential in changing the viewpoint of other countries to Iran.
“One of the reasons of the negative viewpoint of many American people in some periods has been the false media representations. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the West, but we should know it better,” he maintained.
The researcher at Tehran University who has been interested in studying the works of correspondents and documentarists in media giants such as the BBC and CNN added that the 10 analyzed TV documentaries in his book feature social and cultural themes and even the political messages of their creators have been provided in a complex cultural-social process. Therefore, the audience doesn’t consider them as propagandas and advertising programs, but the reality of Iranian society.
“At the meetings and the conferences in the media settings and universities in Iran, one might witness the lack of meticulous knowledge of the audience specifically by the media activists, on the represented image of Iran in the Western media as well as the lack of knowledge and systematic analysis of the media products and representations in this area,” The researcher stated.
He said the main audiences of his book are correspondents and the media activists, adding that researchers and the students of cultural and communication studies, cultural and media programmers and even the tourism officials could be the audience of this book.
The book explains that the documentary ‘Once Upon a Time in Iran’ is more research-based and features meticulous study on Iran and the documentary 'Trip to the End the Earth, People of the Fire', in terms of technique and form is more accomplished compared to the other ones, according to the author.
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