Giving Compass' Take:

• Joseph Darius Jaafari explains that a lack of Iranian voices in journalism is detrimental to coverage of American presence in the Middle East and calls for greater newsroom diversity to improve news coverage. 

• How can funders build up more diverse newsrooms? 

• Read about diversity, equity, and inclusion in journalism. 

For the past week, Iran has dominated the news cycle. There has been a spate of media panels discussing what this means for Americans and our presence in the Middle East, and social media went rogue declaring this as the beginning of World War III. But while the news has been heavily centered on foreign policy in Iran and what it means for its people along with Americans, there has been a noticeable void in the conversation: the voice of Iranians who could give historical and cultural perspectives of the conflict.

Even one of the more prominent voices on Iranian coverage for Iranian-Americans—Voice of America—is sorely lacking with using Iranian voices.

So, instead of trying to understand why people in Iran — even those who loathed the current government — were gathering for Soleimani’s funeral, some outlets reported on Iranian-Americans’ perceptions, almost monolithically, as celebrating Soleimani’s death. Instead of news hosts giving a historically nuanced picture of America’s long-established, yet underreported, interference in Iran’s independence — starting with a CIA-backed coup in the ’50s — there were those who offered only a cursory analysis of the U.S.-Iran conflict.

And since protests erupted after Iranian officials admitted to downing a passenger jet the night of a retaliatory missile strike on American bases in Iraq, there’s been even more confusion on Iranians’ perceptions. Many pundits wondered how citizens mourned a military leader’s assassination one day, then denounced their own government the next.

Quite simply, it’s because Americans aren’t getting a full picture of Iranian people. For example, without historical context, viewers wouldn’t know that the same youth movements that propelled anti-regime protests in the country are also deeply patriotic, but want to handle Iran’s issues themselves.

Read the full article about increasing newsroom diversity by Joseph Darius Jaafari at Nation of Change.