Iran: magazines at newsstand censored in ink, stickers


Jonathan Lundqvist says,


I'm a Swedish researcher who recently returned from a month in Iran, where I
was interviewing bloggers on their possible participation in a
democratization process.

During my stay there I picked up a few issues of
some western magazines at the university bookshop, and found to my surprise
that they were censored by the Iranian regime!

They had simply gone through
the magazines and used black ink and white stickers to cover up any
offending material – most notably images, in both articles and
advertisements, of women with a little less clothes than prescribed by local
laws.

To make a long story short, I snapped some pictures of the censored pages
and I just thought that it may be fun for you so see how western magazines
look over there.

Link to the full text of his post, including lots of magazine page scans.

Top Image: "Wallpaper, Sept 2005. Louis Vitton advertisement. They redesigned the dress. The black [portion of the dress] is not supposed to be there."

Middle: "The Economist, Apr 16 2005, pp78-79. Two censored images in the Books and Arts section. One of Billie Holiday's shoulders and the other is some kind of drawing. I'm very curious as to what lies beneath here. It must be of considerable danger, considering the dual use of ink and sticker."

Below: "This is part of the wrapping that the magazines came in. Nashravaran Journalistic Institute is the organization (agency?) that handles that censorship. They also stamp all magazines with a stamp upon inspection. It's mind-boggling to think of the people whose work it is to sit there with a giant felt-tip pen and cover up skin all day long."

Bottom: here's the original LV ad in which Uma's bazoomas are unencumbered by black ink, as is their natural inclination.