Radio Zamaneh

Radio Zamaneh operates on the basis of professional, ethical, and independent journalism, with human rights and freedom of speech as the basic values informing all programming. All Radio Zamaneh programmes are produced in an endeavour to understand and express the needs and requirements of young Iranians - be they information-, entertainment-, or advocacy-oriented.

Radio Zamaneh's programming policy is shaped by its own editorial vision, which is based on an interactive media-making philosophy. Maximum interaction with the audience is the most important objective of Zamaneh. To that end, listeners are commissioned to submit reports and reviews; any listener or reader can be a producer or writer for Zamaneh. For instance, technical facilities on the Radio Zamaneh website make it possible for listeners to record their own programmes and send them to Radio Zamaneh - constituting a kind of "citizen journalism".

Radio Zamaneh intends to increase and intensify working relations with online bloggers. This strategy is based on the observation that the Iranian blog sphere is an active web community which is considered "the preserve of young urban Iranians both inside and outside the country." Through its own website, Radio Zamaneh serves as a platform for Iranian bloggers, hoping to reflect and disseminate their opinions and ideas for social change.

Youth.

More than 70% of Iranians are under the age of 28. However, organisers contend that "Iranian media inside and outside this country for various reasons has systematically ignored the voice of this huge majority, which is colorfully diverse."

Press Now, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) supporting independent media in regions of conflict and countries in transition, is the co-initiator of Radio Zamaneh; it supports the radio station financially and technically, by way of training and advice. On the basis of an amendment by the Dutch Parliament for substantial support of free media for Iranians in 2004, the Dutch government agreed to fund a selection of new media initiatives by Iranian journalists; Radio Zamaneh was one of these initiatives.

The director of Radio Zamaneh is a former senior BBC producer, Mehdi Jami. He is a blogger and multi-media journalist working in both the radio and online media. Mr. Jami works with Radio Zamaneh's young writers, journalists, bloggers and programme editors, such as Massoume Naseri. She was a former journalist in Tehran working for the popular youth magazine Chelcheragh prior to joining Radio Zamaneh.