Quick Facts
Biography
Abolfazl Fateh is a media expert, medical doctor, journalist and political activist.
Career
Fateh was the director of Islamic Students Association at Tehran University from 1991-1996. On November 4, 1999, he founded the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) to report on news from Iranian universities that later covered a variety of national and international topics. "While taking a reformist view of events, ISNA has managed to remain politically independent. It has, however, maintained its loyalty to the former president and carries a section devoted to "Khatami's perspectives". Fateh was ISNA's managing director until his resignation on 10 October 2005. During his term, ISNA gained recognition among media and elite and became the most influential, prestigious and most referenced news agency in the country, according to official reportsso that Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami, as one of its main supporters, during his visit of the agency (December 2004) considered ISNA as one of the most important media achievement of the reform era and one of the best symbols of student movement in Iran.
Abolfazl Fateh was taken to the court on several occasions over the agency's reports. Also, once he was beaten by riot police while supporting his correspondents to report student demonstration in June 2003. According to the Guardian, reformist daily Aftab-e Yazd 14 June 2003, in its Editorial column wrote: "It is not easy to overlook the injury caused to Dr Abolfazl Fateh, the hardworking managing director of the Iranian Students' News Agency, who had come to the scene to ensure an accurate reporting of events and prevent any news distortion by foreign media... [His] greatest concern was that if the people do not receive the news from us, they would do so from our enemies or at best from our competitors.". Later Iran's chief of police apologized for the event as an accident.
Fateh was the head of Mousavi's information and media committee in Iran presidential campaign (2009) and one of the main Musavi's advisor. He was banned (from leaving Iran) because of (his role in) Musavi campaign, but ultimately the ban was lifted. After election, he was mostly silent but he supported Musavi seventeen statement: "Mousavi’s statement is a significant goodwill gesture from his side and an important test for the authorities." Fateh explained that Mousavi had offered a solution based on “goodwill and the minimum expectations of the people”, but this was now the last argument to be put.
Fateh established a new model of news agency in the country with the motto "one student, one correspondent" and "one idea, one news". He also launched a new and innovatory model of presidential campaign with the motto "each citizen, one campaign" in Iran. The approach was based on decentralized management and producing repeatable content which supported mass participation. Moreover, Fateh introduced green as the Mousavi symbolic campaign color and hereby the color entered as one of the elements on the election campaign in Iran. "The new initiative, however, has drawn criticism by the rivals. Principlist daily Kayhan accused Mousavi's supporters of following in the footsteps of those who staged color revolutions in some former Soviet republics. Abolfazl Fateh, Mousavi's campaign manager rejected the accusations and said, "Our symbols are religious, not velvet.
Politically, Fateh is considered as Iranian reformists from religious left wing, loyal to the late Ayatollah Khomeini's political framework. He has been politically active as a moderate reformist on a platform of reforming the system based on the Iranian Constitution.
Abolfazl Fateh graduated from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (1996) achieving the degree of Medical Doctor and obtained his PhD from University of Oxford with a thesis entitled "The Power of News Production" (2011).
Abolfazl Fateh in his PhD thesis stated that, "Regardless of any fate that the agency [ISNA] faces in the future..., it is clearly evident that ISNA, in the context of the Iranian media sphere and in comparison with other news sources in the country [during the period in between 1999-2005], rose as a new media phenomenon. This unique student news agency created a range of innovatory and influential journalistic work. Interestingly, all of these characteristics emerged while ISNA was affiliated with a revolutionary organization like ACECR. This affiliation raises the question as to whether ISNA represents a mutation in the revolutionary organizations in the country" (Fateh A, 2011)".
The thesis statement added, "ISNA was a new idea that turned into a reality and added another dimension to the news agency’s mission in the country. The study reminds us of the importance and significance of news agencies in a region where they are not considered important or powerful players. As such, it introduces a workable model that can be potentially replicated in the region".
As Fateh's thesis explained, "[Despite its weaknesses] ISNA represents a unique type of journalism and a unique form of media organization that combined distinctive elements of local and global characteristics in its inception and operation. It is difficult to frame ISNA as a news agency or claim that the agency “fits a model”. At one level ISNA can probably be seen as a hybrid of participatory and traditional journalism and at another level as a hybrid organization that bridged the gap between competent journalism and cyber activism or cyber politics. In a serious way, ISNA defined its own model of a news agency, while at the same time acting as a social maverick and providing a mould for civic participation. These unique characteristics explain the success and impact of ISNA on the media scene in Iran, providing the key to its early development and survival. As such, in a rather direct way, ISNA embodied the socio-politics of Iran, with its deep heterogeneity and perhaps contradictions. It symbolizes a period of Iranian contemporary history in its rich complexity".