Directive to VOA Not to Call 1953
Operations a CoupSam Ghandchi
http://www.ghandchi.com/1490-voa-28-mordad-english.htm
دستور به صدای آمریکا که عملیات 28 مرداد را کودتا نخواند
http://www.ghandchi.com/1490-voa-28-mordad.htm
The following quotation is from a US document dated a day before the success of CIA 1953 coup in Iran. The document was released three weeks ago by the US government. It is clearly stated that US State Department gave a directive to VOA (Voice of America) not to use the terminology of "coup d’état" or "plot" when referring to the US operations of August of 1953 in Iran to topple the democratic government of Dr. Mossadegh:
".. State has passed the word to VOA and instructed its own press relations people to avoid any such terminology as “coup d’état,” “plot,” etc., and that while playing the story “straight” they should play up the fact that there is another version of the story supported by both Zahedi and now the Shah which indicates that if there was any coup d’état it was that of Mossadegh and not of Zahedi" (1).
The release of these documents shows the strength of democracy and rule of law in the United States that even documents of such embarrassing events are declassified in time according to Freedom of Information Act, and are made public today, i.e. 64 years later. I am indebted to Mr. Mohammad Amini's research article of today (2), that has thoroughly analyzed the newly released CIA documents.
After the 1953 coup, Allameh Dehkhoda was contacted by VOA for an interview and he refused (3). Now we can understand the depth of the intricate response of Iran's intellectual giant to VOA, which shows he understood well, how much VOA had compromised in reporting the facts. It is noteworthy that Dehkhoda at the time, was basically focused on literary work and not politics. Finally, it was not long before compromising on VOA Charter, which was not enough for the pressure groups, and VOA Persian Service was totally shut down by the request of Shah of Iran (3) and only reopened more than 20 years later after the collapse of Shah's regime.
