Music
Colgan: This is the sound of rebellion.
The music, the dancing, this singer – all are banned by the Islamic government of Iran.
Music
Colgan: But the mullahs have been unable to stop these images reaching the eyes and ears of Iranians, as determined exiles in America beam directly into living rooms around Iran.
Music
Colgan: Around 1 million Iranians have made their home in the US since fleeing their country after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
About half live here in California and LA is the epicentre of the community, where Little Iran or Tehrangeles as it’s known, sits nestled beside affluent Beverly Hills.
Zia Atabay is preparing for regime change in the men’s room of his own personal TV station.
Once a famous pop star in his homeland, the so-called Tom Jones of Iran used to live like royalty in Tehran.
Today, he’s pouring his funds into a bottomless pit he’s called NITV, National Iranian Television, broadcasting by satellite into Iran, the US and Europe.
Sometimes the employees don’t get paid and he’s fighting bankruptcy – but from the virtual studio of this modest station he’s fomenting revolt.
Music
Atabay: In Iran there was a revolution by a large number of people in opposition to the Imperial rule – many of whom thought they didn’t have enough freedom.
Colgan: He does what the oppressive leaders of Iran hate most: speak without censorship. His scathing commentary on the regime has earned him death threats.Atabay: I heard with the phone,that they going to kill me, they’re going to kill my daughter, they’re going to kill my wife – and I have to be shut up, don’t have to talk like this.
Colgan: His political career began by accident. He began broadcasting Persian cultural shows in March 2000 to expat Iranians living in the US -- he was stunned when a caller phoned in one day from Iran.
Atabay: First of all, we didn’t believe it; second, all of us we were crying when we find out we are in Iran.
Colgan: Iranian Government attempts to stop him only increased his determination.
Atabay: After 3 or 4 months the Iranians started to jam my signal, block my accounts and everything – so they hurt my feelings. They pissed me off.
Commentator: They claim the Persian revolution was a beautiful thing and that it’s only the Islamic military that has done wrong.
Colgan: This broadcast is on the anniversary of the Islamic revolution and is full of dire images of the regime’s misdeeds. He hopes to push Iranians to rise against their government – and soon. The US accuses Iran of running a secret nuclear weapons research program. If Iran is successful in building the bomb, Zia Atabay says, his people are doomed.
Atabay: I know that the Iranian government is dangerous, I know that they are creating bomb. I know that if they do, Iran will be destroyed by the other countries. That’s why I want, before they get to that point ,this thing happens - changing the government happens.
Protestors: “Death to America, death to America.”
Colgan: The world sees carefully constructed images from Iran, of regime-orchestrated protests against America.
Freedom of the press is non-existent.
But more and more Iranians are secretly tuning in to illicit broadcasts from the US – their black market satellite dishes now number in the millions -- too numerous for a government crackdown. And this is what they see:
Demonstrator: We want freedom in Iran…. We want freedom in Iran.
Colgan: They see forbidden pictures from LA of Iranians protesting from the safe comfort of exile – calling for the overthrow of the Iran’s Islamic regime.
Protestor: Death to the Islamic Republic!
Colgan: Iranian radio and TV broadcasters have mushroomed here; dozens of them now beam back their own recipe for change.
Demonstrator: Thank you Mr. Bush.
Colgan: You’re happy with him?
Demonstrator: Oh yes, I love him. I love him.
Colgan: There’s an old guard of exiles here who remember privileged times when Iran was ruled by a Shah and who want a return to a monarchy under the Shah’s son. So badly do they want regime change, they’d back an Iraq-style invasion of their country by the US.
Demonstrator: Yes, you know, because we know that if America doesn’t take any action now, later it is going to be too late and then you know will be more disastrous for us.
Colgan: And you would support American action ?
Demonstrator: To be honest, as an Iranian I’d be the first volunteer to go to war against the mullahs regime with the American troops.
Colgan: Zia Atabay is determined to keep beaming these messages of revolt into the homes of Iranians, but NITV is fast reaching a crisis point.
Music
Colgan: He and his wife Parvin live in a palatial Los Angeles home, but they’re now struggling to keep it as their money runs out -- drained by NITV
Parvin: Before NITV exist, we had a life, we used to go to vacation twice a year. My daughter was seeing her father all the time. I don’t feel I have a husband any more, or my daughter doesn’t feel like she has a father.
If I know he was in political I would not have married him – you know what I mean. Believe me!
Zia: I don’t believe that !
Parvin: No, No.
Zia: She was so in love with me that…
Colgan: This pop star turned politician dreams NITV will one day be handed to Iranians as the national broadcaster for a free Iran. But his pleas to the US government for funds to help keep it alive have fallen on deaf ears.
Atabay: I’m sorry that I didn’t have enough money or we didn’t have enough money to make it that big but I think this year, I have a feeling that a lot of things will happen, positively. I have a wish that this 2005, I can do a lot of things that I couldn’t do before because I didn’t have the money.
Music
Colgan: The US government is wary of investing in the pipe dreams of maverick exiles like Zia Atabay -- it’s been burnt before.
Two years ago the Bush Administration relied on information from exiled Iraqi leaders living here in the US, believing their claims to widespread support for them in Iraq and their allegations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction -- both proved false. This time the Administration wants a clear channel to Iranians living in Iran.
Of all the networks beaming into Iran, this has the most resources and is arguably the most influential. Voice of America is the long-running US Government funded foreign language news service.
It began broadcasting into Iran in Farsi in 1996, but stepped up programming about 18 months ago. Its Persian service now has the highest profile in the entire network, beaming out daily news and current affairs.Jackson: Our mission to Iran is to give them news they can trust, news that’s authoritative, balanced news, news from the United States and news from around the world.
Colgan: The principle is simple: show Iranians the free world outside – and they WILL choose freedom over oppression.
Incredibly, for a banned service, they claim to have a 13 percent audience share in Iran. They cite one major difference with the competing stations like Zia Atabay’s NITV.
Jackson: The difference between them and us, is we are a news organisation, our journalists don’t express their personal views. We are not propagandising. We don’t believe in propaganda, we believe in balanced coverage and we believe our credibility as a news organisation rests on us being objective journalists.
Colgan: But VOA is also obliged to run unedited statements direct from the Bush Administration –leaving them open to the charge that they too run propaganda.
Jackson: As usual, excellent show. Colgan: If the US government was to direct you to broadcast an editorial that, for example, advocated regime change, could you say no?
Jackson: Probably not, but you know, I came here with this job believing in what our mission is here and if I didn’t feel like I could transmit the editorials reflecting the views of the United States government, then I wouldn’t be working here.
Music
Colgan: VOA is reaching out to the next generation of Iranians,
Luna: Good evening, we are presenting the 23rd “Next Chapter” from Voice of America in Washington DC.
Colgan: Like those targeted by its “Next Chapter” magazine program. The program deals with issues facing young Iranians – talking about AIDS, poverty, education and this story on prostitution.
Luna: There were four sisters -- their father was ill, their mother was elderly and they didn’t have the money to pay for the surgery. They would draw lots to see whose turn it was to go out street walking to pay for the surgery.
Monna: We try to explore social taboos as much as we can –
it’s something that might not be welcomed by everyone, but we think it’s important to do that.
Luna: The world of cinema doesn’t work so simply.
Colgan: And of course they offer freedom of expression.
Reporter: This 21 year old with her tall figure and her particular Persian beauty has come from Canada to the United States.
Colgan: Art, music and pop culture – forbidden fruits in Iran.
Luna: They want more entertainment and what they want to see is what they don’t have. They want to see
young people’s lives in western countries.
Colgan: While older Iranians may press for a monarch, most Iranians are now under 35 – they don’t remember a Shah. Presenter, Luna Shadzi, has been back six times and says her generation wants a democracy.
Luna: They want a peaceful change, I don’t think they’re ready to another revolution. No They suffered a lot for so many years, I don’t think they want more. They just want peace, normal life, you know, and they want to live their age -- like a person of their age.
Music
Colgan: Cultural freedom may prove far more powerful than all the political propaganda.
Music
Colgan: Iranian-born pop star, “Andy” Andranik Madadian is dubbed in his press blurbs, the Persian Elvis.
He’s living proof of the power of the secret media in Iran.
Playing to a small crowd at a college campus in Orange County, LA…
…he’s instantly recognisable to millions of Iranians even though his music is officially banned by the Iranian government and he has never performed in his homeland, living here in exile in the US for more than two decades.
Andy: I became famous here and I’m sure when I go back to Iran, fame is going to find this other face – like here, I play for maybe a thousand, two thousand people. In Iran we’ll be playing for hundreds of thousands of people.
Colgan: His exotic girlfriend Shani looks the part of the Persian princess – she’s actually Shani Rigsbee from Arkansas.
Shani: I personally receive lots of emails from Iran all the time, and people that follow every detail of what we do.
Music
Colgan: Their music and videos have been consumed by a hungry fan base, desperate for the pleasures enjoyed by the youth of free nations.Andy: They’re saying they live with our music, they laugh with our music,they cry with our music, they fall in love with our music. And so what more do you want when you’re young, you want to fall in love, you want to be excited, you want to be happy, you want to dance. And thank god, now in some sort of form they have it.
Colgan: From crooners to commentators, all these satellite subversives are scrambling to be the voice heard above the others – to claim their place in history. But while each says it differently, they’re all saying the same thing – it’s time for regime change in Iran.
Reporter: Jill Colgan
Camera: Timothy Bates
Editor: Woody Landay
Research : Janet Silver
Colgan: This is the sound of rebellion.
The music, the dancing, this singer – all are banned by the Islamic government of Iran.
Music
Colgan: But the mullahs have been unable to stop these images reaching the eyes and ears of Iranians, as determined exiles in America beam directly into living rooms around Iran.
Music
Colgan: Around 1 million Iranians have made their home in the US since fleeing their country after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
About half live here in California and LA is the epicentre of the community, where Little Iran or Tehrangeles as it’s known, sits nestled beside affluent Beverly Hills.
Zia Atabay is preparing for regime change in the men’s room of his own personal TV station.
Once a famous pop star in his homeland, the so-called Tom Jones of Iran used to live like royalty in Tehran.
Today, he’s pouring his funds into a bottomless pit he’s called NITV, National Iranian Television, broadcasting by satellite into Iran, the US and Europe.
Sometimes the employees don’t get paid and he’s fighting bankruptcy – but from the virtual studio of this modest station he’s fomenting revolt.
Music
Atabay: In Iran there was a revolution by a large number of people in opposition to the Imperial rule – many of whom thought they didn’t have enough freedom.
Colgan: He does what the oppressive leaders of Iran hate most: speak without censorship. His scathing commentary on the regime has earned him death threats.Atabay: I heard with the phone,that they going to kill me, they’re going to kill my daughter, they’re going to kill my wife – and I have to be shut up, don’t have to talk like this.
Colgan: His political career began by accident. He began broadcasting Persian cultural shows in March 2000 to expat Iranians living in the US -- he was stunned when a caller phoned in one day from Iran.
Atabay: First of all, we didn’t believe it; second, all of us we were crying when we find out we are in Iran.
Colgan: Iranian Government attempts to stop him only increased his determination.
Atabay: After 3 or 4 months the Iranians started to jam my signal, block my accounts and everything – so they hurt my feelings. They pissed me off.
Commentator: They claim the Persian revolution was a beautiful thing and that it’s only the Islamic military that has done wrong.
Colgan: This broadcast is on the anniversary of the Islamic revolution and is full of dire images of the regime’s misdeeds. He hopes to push Iranians to rise against their government – and soon. The US accuses Iran of running a secret nuclear weapons research program. If Iran is successful in building the bomb, Zia Atabay says, his people are doomed.
Atabay: I know that the Iranian government is dangerous, I know that they are creating bomb. I know that if they do, Iran will be destroyed by the other countries. That’s why I want, before they get to that point ,this thing happens - changing the government happens.
Protestors: “Death to America, death to America.”
Colgan: The world sees carefully constructed images from Iran, of regime-orchestrated protests against America.
Freedom of the press is non-existent.
But more and more Iranians are secretly tuning in to illicit broadcasts from the US – their black market satellite dishes now number in the millions -- too numerous for a government crackdown. And this is what they see:
Demonstrator: We want freedom in Iran…. We want freedom in Iran.
Colgan: They see forbidden pictures from LA of Iranians protesting from the safe comfort of exile – calling for the overthrow of the Iran’s Islamic regime.
Protestor: Death to the Islamic Republic!
Colgan: Iranian radio and TV broadcasters have mushroomed here; dozens of them now beam back their own recipe for change.
Demonstrator: Thank you Mr. Bush.
Colgan: You’re happy with him?
Demonstrator: Oh yes, I love him. I love him.
Colgan: There’s an old guard of exiles here who remember privileged times when Iran was ruled by a Shah and who want a return to a monarchy under the Shah’s son. So badly do they want regime change, they’d back an Iraq-style invasion of their country by the US.
Demonstrator: Yes, you know, because we know that if America doesn’t take any action now, later it is going to be too late and then you know will be more disastrous for us.
Colgan: And you would support American action ?
Demonstrator: To be honest, as an Iranian I’d be the first volunteer to go to war against the mullahs regime with the American troops.
Colgan: Zia Atabay is determined to keep beaming these messages of revolt into the homes of Iranians, but NITV is fast reaching a crisis point.
Music
Colgan: He and his wife Parvin live in a palatial Los Angeles home, but they’re now struggling to keep it as their money runs out -- drained by NITV
Parvin: Before NITV exist, we had a life, we used to go to vacation twice a year. My daughter was seeing her father all the time. I don’t feel I have a husband any more, or my daughter doesn’t feel like she has a father.
If I know he was in political I would not have married him – you know what I mean. Believe me!
Zia: I don’t believe that !
Parvin: No, No.
Zia: She was so in love with me that…
Colgan: This pop star turned politician dreams NITV will one day be handed to Iranians as the national broadcaster for a free Iran. But his pleas to the US government for funds to help keep it alive have fallen on deaf ears.
Atabay: I’m sorry that I didn’t have enough money or we didn’t have enough money to make it that big but I think this year, I have a feeling that a lot of things will happen, positively. I have a wish that this 2005, I can do a lot of things that I couldn’t do before because I didn’t have the money.
Music
Colgan: The US government is wary of investing in the pipe dreams of maverick exiles like Zia Atabay -- it’s been burnt before.
Two years ago the Bush Administration relied on information from exiled Iraqi leaders living here in the US, believing their claims to widespread support for them in Iraq and their allegations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction -- both proved false. This time the Administration wants a clear channel to Iranians living in Iran.
Of all the networks beaming into Iran, this has the most resources and is arguably the most influential. Voice of America is the long-running US Government funded foreign language news service.
It began broadcasting into Iran in Farsi in 1996, but stepped up programming about 18 months ago. Its Persian service now has the highest profile in the entire network, beaming out daily news and current affairs.Jackson: Our mission to Iran is to give them news they can trust, news that’s authoritative, balanced news, news from the United States and news from around the world.
Colgan: The principle is simple: show Iranians the free world outside – and they WILL choose freedom over oppression.
Incredibly, for a banned service, they claim to have a 13 percent audience share in Iran. They cite one major difference with the competing stations like Zia Atabay’s NITV.
Jackson: The difference between them and us, is we are a news organisation, our journalists don’t express their personal views. We are not propagandising. We don’t believe in propaganda, we believe in balanced coverage and we believe our credibility as a news organisation rests on us being objective journalists.
Colgan: But VOA is also obliged to run unedited statements direct from the Bush Administration –leaving them open to the charge that they too run propaganda.
Jackson: As usual, excellent show. Colgan: If the US government was to direct you to broadcast an editorial that, for example, advocated regime change, could you say no?
Jackson: Probably not, but you know, I came here with this job believing in what our mission is here and if I didn’t feel like I could transmit the editorials reflecting the views of the United States government, then I wouldn’t be working here.
Music
Colgan: VOA is reaching out to the next generation of Iranians,
Luna: Good evening, we are presenting the 23rd “Next Chapter” from Voice of America in Washington DC.
Colgan: Like those targeted by its “Next Chapter” magazine program. The program deals with issues facing young Iranians – talking about AIDS, poverty, education and this story on prostitution.
Luna: There were four sisters -- their father was ill, their mother was elderly and they didn’t have the money to pay for the surgery. They would draw lots to see whose turn it was to go out street walking to pay for the surgery.
Monna: We try to explore social taboos as much as we can –
it’s something that might not be welcomed by everyone, but we think it’s important to do that.
Luna: The world of cinema doesn’t work so simply.
Colgan: And of course they offer freedom of expression.
Reporter: This 21 year old with her tall figure and her particular Persian beauty has come from Canada to the United States.
Colgan: Art, music and pop culture – forbidden fruits in Iran.
Luna: They want more entertainment and what they want to see is what they don’t have. They want to see
young people’s lives in western countries.
Colgan: While older Iranians may press for a monarch, most Iranians are now under 35 – they don’t remember a Shah. Presenter, Luna Shadzi, has been back six times and says her generation wants a democracy.
Luna: They want a peaceful change, I don’t think they’re ready to another revolution. No They suffered a lot for so many years, I don’t think they want more. They just want peace, normal life, you know, and they want to live their age -- like a person of their age.
Music
Colgan: Cultural freedom may prove far more powerful than all the political propaganda.
Music
Colgan: Iranian-born pop star, “Andy” Andranik Madadian is dubbed in his press blurbs, the Persian Elvis.
He’s living proof of the power of the secret media in Iran.
Playing to a small crowd at a college campus in Orange County, LA…
…he’s instantly recognisable to millions of Iranians even though his music is officially banned by the Iranian government and he has never performed in his homeland, living here in exile in the US for more than two decades.
Andy: I became famous here and I’m sure when I go back to Iran, fame is going to find this other face – like here, I play for maybe a thousand, two thousand people. In Iran we’ll be playing for hundreds of thousands of people.
Colgan: His exotic girlfriend Shani looks the part of the Persian princess – she’s actually Shani Rigsbee from Arkansas.
Shani: I personally receive lots of emails from Iran all the time, and people that follow every detail of what we do.
Music
Colgan: Their music and videos have been consumed by a hungry fan base, desperate for the pleasures enjoyed by the youth of free nations.Andy: They’re saying they live with our music, they laugh with our music,they cry with our music, they fall in love with our music. And so what more do you want when you’re young, you want to fall in love, you want to be excited, you want to be happy, you want to dance. And thank god, now in some sort of form they have it.
Colgan: From crooners to commentators, all these satellite subversives are scrambling to be the voice heard above the others – to claim their place in history. But while each says it differently, they’re all saying the same thing – it’s time for regime change in Iran.
Reporter: Jill Colgan
Camera: Timothy Bates
Editor: Woody Landay
Research : Janet Silver