Project Description

Iran is among the highest priorities for the Department of State and understanding how the Iranian media comments on and responds to U.S. policy is essential for countering disinformation. The goal of this project is to research and contextualize the Iranian media landscape (traditional and Twitter) and identify influential outlets and Twitter users both inside Iran and throughout the diaspora. The result of your work will be an analytical product focused on these areas.

Knowledge of Persian-Farsi is preferred. However, research (to an extent) can also be conducted in English.

The London Media Hub is the State Department's primary source for media analysis and currently produces daily analytical reporting on Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu media. The London Hub is creating a Persian-language media analyst position and your work will lay the foundation for that position and help inform the London Hub which media outlets to focus on.

Intern 1: Your work would include:
1) Mapping the full range of traditional news media outlets in Iran and within the diaspora;
2) Compiling brief overviews of main outlets and identifying funding sources and ownership;
3) Identifying the ideological spectrum of media outlets;
4) Analyzing editorial focus of media (e.g. domestic Iranian issues; foreign policy of Iran; international affairs, etc.);
5) Creating short biographies of key contributors (editorialists and prominent journalists) focused on their backgrounds and intellectual interests;
6) Create bi-weekly one-page report highlighting how Persian media covered a specific topic of US foreign policy.

Intern 2: Your work could include:
1) Identifying key international affairs influencers (journalists, public intellectuals, etc.) on Persian-language Twitter;
2) Creating biographical overviews of their backgrounds and accounts;
3) Compiling demographic sketches of the audiences they reach (youth, young adults, socio-economic class);
4) Analyzing responses to U.S. foreign policy actions toward Iran (positive, negative, neutral, conspiratorial, etc.)
5) Create bi-weekly one-page report highlighting how Persian Twitter commented on a specific topic of US foreign policy.

Required Skills or Interests

Additional Information

For more information about the London Media Hub, follow this link: https://bit.ly/2xk5qAM.