Iran’s second-largest city of Mashhad is to host a key gathering of notable female journalists working for alternative media platforms from across the globe in late September.
Organizers of the International Khorsheed Media Festival said in a notice released on Sunday that a first edition of the event will be held in Mashhad, in northeast Iran, from September 29 to October 1.
The notice said some 75 female journalists from more than 40 countries will attend the festival to share their experiences and thoughts on stories rarely covered by the mainstream media.
American-Iranian broadcaster Marzieh Hashemi will be in charge of organizing the conference.
“The Khorsheed Media Festival is an effort to unite independent women in media from around the world in order to cover important issues and voices muffled by the mainstream media,” said Hashemi.
This year’s festival will be held under the slogan “Women narrate, illuminate and initiate change”, said the notice released by the organizers, which added that the event seeks to create a platform for female journalists to discuss the most effective ways to create a new concept of reality in journalism.
Such a concept of reality, said the notice, would focus on ordinary people, especially women and children.
“The festival can be described as a forum to harmonize the voices of those less heard at the international level,” it said.
Topics that will be covered in the debates planned for the festival will include women in media and promoting social justice, the institution of family under media attack, women and the media of resistance, the role played by media in normalizing violence against women and media and modern slavery, the organizers said.
