''Jame'eh'' ( fa, جامعه, lit=Society) was a Persian language reformist newspaper published in Tehran briefly between February and June 1998.

Geneive Abdo Geneive Abdo (born 1960) is a scholar and author of several books on the Middle East and the Muslim World. She was previously a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a nonresident fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings Ins ...

described it as the first free newspaper in Iran.

History and profile

''Jameah'' was launched on 5 February 1998.

Mohsen Sazegara Mohsen Sazegara ( fa, محسن سازگارا; born 5 January 1955) calls himself as Iranian journalist and pro-democracy political activist. He was the founder of IRGC (Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps) after the revolution in 1979. He held several ...

was one of the three founders of the paper.

Hamidreza Jalaeipour Hamidreza Jalaeipour ( fa, حمیدرضا جلایی‌پور; born 1957) is an Iranian sociologist and journalist, member of the Central Council of the Iran participation front, assistant professor in the department of sociology at the Univers ...

was the publisher. The paper gradually became one of the most read newspapers in Iran selling 300,000 copies. It was a supporter of

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to ...

and frequently covered news about the US movies. In June 1998 the license of the paper was cancelled due to its allegedly insulting news about the head of the

Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

Rahim Safavi Yahya "Rahim" Safavi ( fa, یحیی (رحیم) صفوی, born 1952) is an Iranian military commander who served as the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Early life Safavi was born in 1952 in the city of Isfahan, Iran. C ...

. Following this incident the paper was banned by the

Iranian government The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, نظام جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Neẓām-e jomhūrī-e eslāmi-e Irān, known simply as ''Neẓām'' ( fa, نظام, lit=the system) among its supporters) is the ruling state a ...

and was succeeded by another reformist newspaper ''Tus'' which was started in July 1998. The editorial staff of the newspaper was same with those of ''Jameah'', but it was soon shut down. Then the reformists launched another newspaper, '' Neshat''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jameeh 1998 establishments in Iran 1998 disestablishments in Iran Banned newspapers Censorship in Iran Defunct newspapers published in Iran Newspapers established in 1998 Persian-language newspapers Publications disestablished in 1998