The April issue of Standpoint contains an important note by Frances Weaver.  She raises the matter of PressTV, the international broadcaster funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran.  

The question she asks is whether western liberal commentators should appear on such a network, given the nature of the regime that supports it and the views of other commentators, views that may on occasion be unattractive or even vile and untrue. 

As an example of the latter, Weaver points to an article on PressTV's website by Dr. Nicholas Kollerstrom, "The Walls of Auschwitz," that is a quisling attempt at extreme Holocaust diminishment, if not outright denial. 

Weaver asks if individuals who appear on PressTV, such as Andrew Gilligan, Tariq Ramadan, Nick Ferrari, and Derek Conway, are naive, or simply don't realize they are being used to give the channel a veneer of respectability.  

Speaking as someone who appeared last week on PressTV's "Forum" current-events debate show with Andrew Gilligan, I can attest that I was naive, certainly, in that I was unaware of the Kollerstrom article.  I wouldn't say that my appearance lent the network a great deal of prestige or credibility.  I did however hope  that I might be able to use PressTV, to put forward my own ideas and to advance the cause of western liberalism, at least as much as PressTV might be using me.  

I'd been reassured by producers beforehand that the other panelists were reasonable, the show would not be edited to excise content authorities would find objectionable, and that the program would be broadcast via satellite within Iran. I'll post a link to the program separately.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, my friend the New Republic writer Jamie Kirchick had a wholly different experience of PressTV, as I've written previously (link below).

I encourage others to offer opinion on this matter in the comments below.  Perhaps they'll also offer accounts of their own experience, or advice to others who may be contemplating such an appearence.  (Advice from Kirchick and Melik Kaylan was most helpful in preparing for my appearance, for which thanks.)

I maintain that the best response to an illiberal regime's use, or misuse and abuse, of modern technology and the west's freedom of expression is MORE free expression by people willing to defend the means and values those others attempt to turn against us.

On a separate but related note, the Iranian blogger Omid Reza Misayafi has died in prison, as noted in this column last week.  Hoder Derakshan, the father of the Iranian blogosphere, remains jailed by the Islamic Republic. 

Weaver's note here.

About Jamie Kirchick's experience on PressTV here.

About jailed Iranian on-line journalists here.

ps-next week I'll be writing in this column about a just-released report regarding human rights in Iran.