One of the subjects always posed in oral history is its ability to communicate with different working realms. The importance of the communication between oral history and journalism was more clearly set forth in a session, where some journalists and those involved in journalism were present. It was held in Document Center of Astan Qods Razavi in May 2014 with the subject-matter of local press. In this meeting those involved in different areas of journalism put their experiences and concerns which can be of interest for the oral historians. In spite of some differences in the goals and methods, there is a good capacity for cooperation between journalism and oral history, regarding the numerous national and local journals and those active in this field. The most important common fields are:
- Joint use of equipments such as voice-recorder, camera and picture
-The use of interview as the most important information gathering tool
- The importance of the role of interviewer and reporter in gathering information
-Documented processes in oral history and journalism
- Addressing the recent and prone to present history
- Addressing the social issues
- Addressing obsolete and abandoned subjects
- Close relation with information community
-The ability to transfer the concepts and subjects in form of pictures and texts
- Producing valuable information for the users
- The ability to influence on the society through introducing common subjects differently
- Field documentation and paying attention to the old urban texture
- Highlighting historical and local identity
- Paying attention to the lower layers of the society
- Highlighting less noted issues and addressing the ugly ones
Midst these common points, there can be seen some differences between oral history and journalism:
- The goal of interviewing is different in oral history and journalism
- The data in journalism is collected for the daily use, but in oral history the information is gathered with a look at the future
- Journalism tends to prove some subjects but oral history's intention is to gather historical information
- Journalism emphasizes on monologue but the oral history's prominence is dialogue
- The abuse of the interviewee and his/her information in oral history does not justify the goal, while this sometimes happens in the press
- Oral history stresses on archiving and in journalism on instant use of the information
- Oral history is directed toward scientific-investigational goals and the journalism is pointed toward commercial use
- Journalism data is influenced by the present time and censorship while these two have the least effect on oral history
Policies, cultural situations and informational needs have their own effect on the differences and common points between oral history and journalism, actually. A strong relationship can be created between oral history and journalism in Iran. Except for political matters, which are sometimes influenced by the daily situations and political wings, there are many common fields in cultural, economical and social subjects between these two. While journalism can use oral history information in its reports, oral history also can extract some subjects worth more investigating from the daily texts of the newspapers. The journalists, as the society thermometers, can transfer numerous subjects to the oral historians for interviewing, or even themselves can be oral historians after training. If the newspapers do not consider their texts as routine subjects and pay more attention to archiving, there can appear a context for preserving valuable information for the future. In particular, the journalists sometimes gain access to the information which is inaccessible for the oral historians in normal situations. Regardless of all the differences, providing the communication context, for example in the form of mutual sessions, can lead to many interactions between these two realms in the fields of documentation, interviewing, informing the society and finally constructing a knowledgeable society sensitive to social and historical issues.
Abolfazl Hassanabadi
Translated By: Asghar Aboutorabi
