“`html
Despite persistent demonstrations and brutal abuses by the regime in Iran, Norwegian media have to a large extent lost interest in the matter.
Sarah Gaulin is an Iranian with Norwegian citizenship who serves as the head of the organisation Likestilling, Integrering, Mangfold. She now expresses great frustration at the lack of coverage.
Dramatic consequences
Gaulin points out that news coverage was broad and solid in January, when a united people rose up in the streets. Since then, however, attention has declined sharply. The consequences of the uprising have been catastrophic for the civilian population, and the organisation Iran Human Rights reports that between 30,000 and 40,000 people may have died. In addition, the country is marked by mass arrests and severe repression.
Gaulin herself fled from Iran at the age of seven and states that almost everyone knows someone who has been injured or killed.
A cynical information war
According to Gaulin, the country is now in the midst of an information war in which it is absolutely crucial that the media bring forward accurate information. Both she and Iran Human Rights confirm that the conflict is characterised by significant misinformation. The totalitarian regime actively disseminates false news as a deliberate strategy to divide the opposition and create confusion. Certain actors within the opposition also unfortunately contribute to the further dissemination of such narratives.
Drowning in domestic scandals
News editor at TV 2 Karianne Solbrække acknowledges the challenges associated with the coverage. She admits that the uprising in Iran may have been drowned out by an extremely intense news landscape in recent times. Solbrække points in particular to the ongoing court case against Marius Borg Høiby and the unfolding of the Epstein scandal as having taken up considerable space and focus.
Furthermore, the editor explains that the closed regime in Iran makes it extremely challenging for independent media to verify content and carry out in-depth reportage journalism.