Iran closes new daily for resembling banned paper

Iran’s press watchdog has shut down the new moderate daily Rozegar (’Times’) for resembling a newspaper with a similar stance that was banned last month, the student news agency ISNA reported. The conservative watchdog has banned Rozegar based on a press law that ‘immediately bans publication of a newspaper that replaces a banned one with similar name, logo, and format.’ Rozegar first hit the news stands October 16, nearly a month after the press watchdog shut down the leading moderate broadsheet Shargh (East). The format and typeset of Rozegar, a 24-page colour daily, closely resembled that of Shargh, for long the standard-bearer of the moderate press. Many of the bylines on the paper showed that its reporters were former Shargh journalists. The new paper had to suspend publication just two days after its first issue after receiving warnings not to cover political news and to change its format, according to the editorial board. With the requested changes made, Rozegar appeared again Saturday, removing its political news content from three pages.According to the culture ministry, the newspaper’s license does not allow it to publish political stories. (AFP, Middle East Times,October 24, 2006)

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