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Baha'i News Podcast
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by VoicesDivine.com
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Digital Album
These are free recordings of Baha'i news articles produced by VoicesDivine.com. If you enjoy these recordings, we would love the heck out of you if you would consider a small "name your price" donation to help keep this project going. There are currently 2 reports in this album which you can download in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.Buy Now name your price
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- released 15 April 2010
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Dec 2009
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- Track Name: Update on Third Trial Session of Iranian Baha'i Leaders
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This is a recording from VoicesDivine.com. To see more podcasts, our audio book store, our blog, and our terms of use, go to www.voicesdivine.com. This is John Iron reading from the Baha'i World News Service.
Update on third trial session of Iranian Baha'i leaders
April 13, 2010, GENEVA, Switzerland – Details are emerging from yesterday's court appearance in Tehran of seven imprisoned Iranian Baha'i leaders.
The Baha'i International Community has learned that when the prisoners arrived at the court, their families were not allowed to enter, signaling a closed hearing.
Inside the courtroom, however, the prisoners saw numerous officials and interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence – along with a film crew which had already set up its cameras.
Concerned over the presence of non-judicial personnel in a supposedly closed hearing, the Baha'is – with the agreement of their attorneys – declined to be party to the proceedings.
The judge adjourned the session and did not announce a date for continuing the trial.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran should immediately set free these seven innocent prisoners," said Diane Ala'i, Baha'i representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
"The dictates of justice demand no less," she said. "They are now about to enter the third year of their incarceration on baseless charges which they have categorically denied and for which the government has no evidence whatsoever.
"At the very least, they should be released on bail and steps be taken to ensure that their trial is conducted fairly, in accordance with international standards of jurisprudence.
"If their confinement is to continue, the harsh conditions under which they are being held must be improved," she said.
Yesterday's session was the third in the ongoing trial of the seven Baha'is, who have been accused of espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, and "corruption on earth," among other charges. Their first court appearance was 12 January this year.
The seven defendants are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 and the others on 14 May 2008.
To see the original article and images at the Baha'i World News Service go to news.bahai.org/story/767.
For more Baha'i audio including recordings of the writings, prayers, news, community messages and audio books of the Baha'i Faith, go to www.voicesdivine.com. - Track Name: Media Portrayal of Women is Focus of Panel
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This is a recording from VoicesDivine.com. To see our other podcasts and our terms of use go to www.voicesdivine.com. The following is Leanne Eleff reading from the Baha'i World News Service.
Media Portrayal of Women is Focus of Panel
4 March 2010, NEW YORK — When Jan Floyd-Douglass decided to buy a new car, she bypassed suitable models from eight different manufacturers – and then wrote to tell them why.
"I love your car but I didn't buy it because I don't like your advertisements because they demean women," wrote Ms. Floyd-Douglass, who is on the board of the Women's National Commission in the United Kingdom.
She told the story during a panel discussion titled "Portrayal or Betrayal: How the Media Depicts Women and Girls" held at the UN offices of the Baha'i International Community. The event was planned in conjunction with the annual session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women which began on 1 March.
Along with the other panelists, she noted that sexualized images of women in advertising are so commonplace as to seem innocuous.
"My message is, if we don't actually do anything about this, we are complicit in it," said Ms. Floyd-Douglass.
Also on the panel was Sarah Kasule, director of the Mother's Union for Uganda, who said that the way women are portrayed in the African media can be equally negative.
"They are depicted as symbols of sex. Or as something to do with making men comfortable, or giving care," she said.
This trend in the media is a result of both individual choices and institutional forces, added Dr. Michael Karlberg, who is an associate professor in the department of communications at Western Washington University.
"On one hand," he said, "people everywhere are choosing to consume media that feeds base appetites that we have inherited from our animal nature. On the other hand, media institutions have been constructed in ways that purposefully stimulate, reinforce, and exploit these base appetites."
The result is a "feedback cycle" that has created a media environment that is "unjust, unhealthy, and unsustainable," observed Dr. Karlberg.
He said any effort to address the problem must consider the structure of media institutions.
"The assumption is that the media is just another commodity. But the media is not just another commodity. It is a process that facilitates democratic deliberations. It is a process that creates culture."
Part of the problem, he said, is that the media's real product is not content but the delivery of an audience to advertisers. The result is that the media strives to manufacture audiences in the cheapest way possible, through a "high-sex, high-violence, high-conflict content. It doesn't take talent or research or investigative journalism. Yet it stimulates the appetites, much the same way that a high-salt, high-sugar, and high-fat junk food diet does."
The discussion, held on 3 March, was moderated by Baroness Joyce Gould, chair of the UK Women's National Commission.
She said recent studies show that images demeaning to women are increasingly used in the mass media and have an unhealthy impact on the psychological development of both girls and boys.
"For girls, it is about being told they need to be more attractive to men. And for boys, it is about looking upon girls as sexual objects," said Baroness Gould.
Dr. Karlberg spoke of efforts the Baha'i community is making to try to counter the ill effects of exposure to such images in the media by offering moral education for children and young people.
"Baha'is, like people everywhere, are struggling to raise and educate children," he said. "They are trying to do this in a way that cultivates their inherent nobility, that releases their spiritual potential, and that helps them recognize the deep sources of purpose, meaning, and happiness in life.
"It is clear that such spiritual education can be a very important factor in making children less susceptible to messages in their media environment. It is also a very important factor in making children more likely to make thoughtful choices about media consumption as they grow older."
Some counter trends in Uganda may be helpful, said Ms. Kasule, who described how literacy and education levels of women and girls are rising in that country.
"There are many programs for girls to read and write. This is important because they will be able to access information, to access media reports, and then they can respond.
"So I believe things are changing for the better," she said.