Iranian Transition, Isolation, and Vilification 1980-1989

Iran underwent a massive political upheaval in 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gained control of the state after his successful revolution. Iran quickly returned to a more conservative fundamentalist Islamic regime. A large percentage of Time articles during the 1980s time period dealt with the new Iranian leader. Time's perception of the Ayatollah shadows the current American perception of the Islamic world, especially the radical sect of Islam which has declared itself an enemy to the Western World.

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Iran underwent a massive political upheaval in 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gained control of the state after his successful revolution. Iran quickly returned to a more conservative fundamentalist Islamic regime. A large percentage of Time articles during the 1980s time period dealt with the new Iranian leader. Time's perception of the Ayatollah shadows the current American perception of the Islamic world, especially the radical sect of Islam which has declared itself an enemy to the Western World.
Khomeini is quickly portrayed as a barbaric leader in a short Time article published in 1988. The article describes the brutal hangings of individuals involved with the People's Mujahedin, a group wishing to usurp power from Khomeini's regime (Time, 41). This short article only focuses on the brutality of the hangings, and not the complete political picture of the region. For example, the reader is not informed of what crimes the condemned individuals were charged with. Furthermore, the article does not attempt to explain why the state determined that a public execution was a necessary punishment for the crimes. This article also contains an interesting phrase. The author describes the condemned individuals as being "rounded up and hanged in public" (Time, 41). This language either intentionally or unintentionally describes the Iranian people in a demeaning way, much like cattle are rounded before a slaughter. Therefore, a degree of prejudice towards the Khomeini administration and the Iranian people is present.
The above article does not stand alone however. A later article published in 1989 attempts to describe the crazed fanaticism of the Islamic people after Khomeini's death. Jill Smolowe wrote, "The funeral…ignited an emotional outpouring from his fanatical followers that Westerns found as bizarre, frightening-and ultimately incomprehensible" (Smolowe, 38). The author correctly assumes that the readers in the United States do not understand or care to understand the causes of this emotional outpouring. Instead she describes the event to an American audience as "bizarre" and "frightening." She later describes the activity as "frenzied" (Smolowe, 38). The author is attempting to frame the practices of Islam as a type of crazed activity undertaking by the masses in the Middle East. This description tries to distance Islam from mainstream Christianity.
The language used in these two examples offer a glimpse into how Time reported on events in Iran. Khomeini is used as a case study because in many ways he represents what the West was afraid of during the 1980s. He publicly shunned the West on multiple occasions and created a fundamentalist state in a geopolitically crucial area of the world. This fear caused American reporters to use language that was more inflammatory towards Islam and the Iranian state. Khomeini was portrayed as a brutal fundamentalist who controlled the masses through religion and fear. The Iranian people were depicted as a frenzied mob that would follow Khomeini anywhere, even to his grave as the above article pointed out. Due to other crises in Iran such as the Iran-Contra affair and the destructive Iraq/Iran war, Time created an Iran that was dangerous and ruled by a brutal radical Islamist. Therefore, a majority of the reporting in Time magazine presents a picture of a dangerous Iran.
These assumptions made during the 1980s provide much of the background to the widely held conceptions about the Middle East throughout the United States currently. The media, through stories such as these, molded large segments of the public to believe that Iran and radical Islam are threats to the American people. Many of these conceptions would transfer into the next decade.

Works Cited:
"A new wave of excutions." Time 26 Dec. 1988: 41.
Smolowe, Jill. "A frenzied farewell: the imam is gone, and his power is up for grabs."
Time 19 July 1989: 38-39.