ABSTRACT
The reign of Reza Shah was the result of a military coup d’état. Following the successful coup of 3 Esfand 1299 (21 February 1921) Reza Khan gradually extended and enforced his power. Simultaneously, he distributed many of the important posts in the country among his colleagues in the military. In military regimes the press has no place but to praise the dictator. Perhaps this attitude actually contributed to the fact that during all his years in power Reza Shah never bothered to alter or replace the press law (qanun-e matbu‘at) from the constitutional period, issued 5 Moharram 1326 (8 February 1908). Two supplementary articles, from 10 Aban 1301 (2 November 1922), which were the result of much hard work by the members of the fourth Majles (1 Tir 1300 to Khordad 130 /June 1921 to 30 June 1923) equally failed to attract the attention of Reza Shah, since he, and the censoring system he had created, did not feel the slightest need to refer to the law. During this period censorship was one of the most important tools with which the government imagined it could maintain order and stability. The press-censoring apparatus in the Reza Shah era operated according to the personal taste of the person or organization at its head during that particular period of time. The documents available at the Iranian National Archives (Sazman-e
Asnad-e Melli-ye Iran) are the most important sources used in writing this article. In addition, documents kept in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Markaz-e Asnad-o Tarikh-e Diplomasi-ye Vezarat-e Omur-e Khareji) and at the Center for Research and Presidency Documents (Markaz-e Pazhuhesh va Asnad-e Riyasat-i Jomhuri) have contributed to this article. Most of the documents related to this field have been studied carefully and the most important among them have been quoted. Thus, we can show clearly how the censorship of the press worked during the first Pahlavi era, especially in relation to its changing aims and intentions. Among the first measures of the coup d’état from 1921 was a publication
stop for a large part of the press. The military government announced on 17 Esfand 1300 (8 March 1922): “In the future I will break the pens of the opposition, cut their tongues and … ”2 Although, after a while, these
newspapers were allowed to begin publishing again, Reza Shah, as minister of war, could not show restraint in face of critical papers. He ordered the editor of the newspaper Setareh-ye Iran, Hoseyn Saba, to be tied up and whipped on the parade ground for minor criticism. He is also said to have knocked out the teeth of Hoseyn Falsafi, the head of the newspaper Hayat-e Javid, with his fist and locked both him and the paper’s editor up in the garrison police department.3
