Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian Revolution

To most Westerners, the Iranian revolution was a shocking spectacle, a distant mass upheaval suddenly breaking into the daily news. It was, in fact, a revolution of the television era, as these authors book clearly demonstrate. The first account of the role of culture and communication in the Iranian revolution, this is also the first book to consider revolution as communication in the modern world. Coauthored by participants in the revolutionary upheaval, this study reflects an unusual breadth and depth of perspective. Drawing on ten years of research, the authors vividly show how the processes and products of modernization were used to undermine the very foundation of modernity in Iran. Their work reveals how deeply embedded cultural modes of communication coupled with crucial media technologies were able to mobilize a population within a repressive political context. Tracing the use of small media (audio cassettes and leaflets) to disseminate the revolution, the authors challenge much of the theory that has dominated international communication studies-and, in doing so, question the credibility of the established media. They also examine the dilemmas of cultural policy making based on Islamic principles in a media-saturated domestic and international environment.