FĀRS NEWSPAPER

 

FĀRS,name of two newspapers published in Shiraz.

1. A weekly published from 20 Jomādā II through 12 Ḏu’l-qaʿda 1289/25 August 1872-12 January 1873. After Āḏarbāyjān (q.v.), Fārs was the second Persian newspaper published in a province. The first three issues, called al-Fārs, were in Arabic and Persian, not all in Arabic as has been assumed (Ṣolḥjū, p. 238; Kohen, p. 80). The editorial of the first issue asserts that Fārs was being published with an authorization by Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah and upon direct orders of Prince Masʿūd Mīrzā Ẓell-al-Solṭān. The editor and director was Mīrzā Taqī Khan Kāšānī, Ẓell-al-Ṣolṭān’s private physician. Seven years later Kāšānī published Farhang (q.v.) in Isfahan, in whose first issue he blamed an unnamed adversary for the discontinuation of Fārs (Ṣadr Hāšemī, Jarāʾed o majallāt I, pp. 261-65, IV, pp. 73-74).

In addition to domestic and foreign news, Fārs covered scientific, particularly medical, issues, and in spite of being a semi-official paper, published enlightening articles, of which a notable example is “Dar fawāʾed-e ʿadālat wa mosāwāt” (no. 15 onward).

Format was four, at times eight, three-column 24 x 37 cm pages, lithographed in nastaʿlīq script at government’s printing house (Dār-al-Ṭebāʿa-ye ḵāṣṣa dar ḵalwat-e āyena-ye Dār-al-Eyāla). It carried no illustrations but occasionally had advertisements. Annual subscription was 3 tomans. Copies are accessible at the Majles Library, Teheran, and the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books, British Library, London.

2. A weekly published from 16 Moḥarram 1335 through 10 Rabīʿ II 1339/12 November 1916-21 December 1920. Although the year of publication is specified in the newspaper, following Ṣadr Hāšemī (IV, pp. 60-61), some have stated that it began publication in 1331/1912. Its editor was Mīrzā Moḥammad-Naṣīr Forṣat Šīrāzī (Forṣat-al-Dawla, q.v.), the noted poet and scholar (1271-1339/1854-1920). After him the editorship was taken over by Mīrzā Fażl-Allāh Khan Banān, secretary to the British Consulate at Shiraz.

Fārs was a conservative newspaper influenced by governors of the province, particularly the pro-British, land-owning Qawām family. Under Banān, Fārs openly reflected British policy in southern Persia. Nevertheless, it made significant, literary and cultural contributions under its first editor. Format was four two-column, lithographed pages of 20 x 32 cm., later 31 x 47.5 cm. It had no illustrations but carried a few advertisements. Annual subscription was 3 tomans. Copies are accessible at the Central Library of the University of Tehran and National Library at Tabrīz.

 

Bibliography (for cited works not given in detail, see “Short References”):

Browne, Press and Poetry, pp. 120-21.

ʿA.-M. Farrāšbandī, Tārīḵča-ye ḥezb-e demokrāt-e Fārs, Tehran, 1359 Š./1980, p. 42.

Aryanpūr, Az Ṣabā tā Nīmā I, p. 247.

G. Kohen, Tārīḵ-e sānsūr dar maṭbūʿāt-e Īrān, Tehran, 2 vols., 1360 Š./1981, I, pp. 79-80; II, p. 656.

M. Moḥīṭ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Tārīḵ-e taḥlīlī-e maṭbūʿāt-e Īrān, Tehran, 1366 Š./1987, pp. 73, 179-80.

M.-E. Reżwānī, “Sayr-ī dar naḵostīn rūz-nāmahā-ye Īrān,” Barrasīhā-ye tārīḵī 2/2, 1346 Š./1967, pp. 69-70.

U. Sims-Williams, Persian Serials and Newspapers in British Libraries, London, 1985, p. 114.

J. Ṣolḥjū, Tārīḵ-e maṭbūʿāt dar Īrān wa jahān, Tehran, 1346 Š./1967.

M. Solṭānī, Fehrest-e rūz-nāmahā, no. 267.

 

(Nassereddin Parvin)

Originally Published: December 15, 1999

Last Updated: December 15, 1999