In the Passage of Negotiations

In the life of every journalist, the opportunity to cover a historic event occurs at least once. However, during the two years that I followed the nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers, this opportunity came to me twice. Once on November 24, 2013, when Iran and the six world powers reached a preliminary agreement on a cold night in Geneva, and the second time when their 16-month marathon led to an understanding of the 'parameters of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action'. Covering the nuclear negotiations may not seem complicated at first glance. It appears that journalists go to beautiful cities and luxurious hotels where these negotiations take place. Each time they cover a repetitive topic and then return to their cities for the process to repeat itself. However, we journalists cover an event that pulls us to a city at any moment, and we must be prepared to join this process at any hour. We cover negotiations where every word and sentence in our reports can change the entire meaning of the subject. For example, the words 'contract', 'agreement', or 'understanding' were terms we constantly reminded ourselves to use carefully. Hana Kavyani, a correspondent for Radio Farda at the nuclear negotiations in Geneva, Vienna, and Lausanne, has closely followed the negotiations over the past months and was the main reporter for Radio Farda on-site. In the course of covering these negotiations, we learned that each of us, while representing a media outlet, must work together under one roof. Those who followed the nuclear negotiations over the past 16 months became almost like a family. We gathered more in various cities than we saw our colleagues in our offices, which allowed us to get to know each other better and feel responsible for one another. Like a family with different approaches to a subject, we sometimes debated and perhaps even became upset with each other. The difficulty of covering the negotiations became more apparent when long nights of work arrived, whether in Geneva in 2013, Vienna in 2014, or just last week in Lausanne. Nights when negotiations continued until late at night and sometimes until sunrise, and that was when the cooperation of journalists became more important. At times, when we saw fatigue on each other's faces, we encouraged one another to rest; one would stay awake while another would sleep for a few minutes. Sometimes competition gave way to friendship. On a bus that took us from the Baur au Lac hotel in Lausanne to the press conference venue on April 2, I heard a group of Iranian photographers discussing one of their colleagues who had missed the first bus. They agreed among themselves to hold a place for their colleague, who could have been their rival in capturing a historic event, so that he would not miss out on this opportunity. In these months, the gathering of dozens, and at times hundreds, of journalists from different countries created a sample of 'dialogue among civilizations and cultures'. Covering these negotiations was a unique opportunity for journalists who had never been to Iran, allowing them to learn more about Iran and Iranians. Before the new year in Iran, as I was leaving the negotiation venue in Lausanne, several non-Iranian journalists had learned how to wish Happy New Year in Persian. On the morning of 'Sizdah Bedar', when I returned from a short rest in a corner of the journalists' room at Baur au Lac to the larger room, I encountered Liz Dusett, the senior correspondent for BBC World News, who congratulated me on 'Sizdah Bedar' while offering chocolates, and such small occurrences were enough to dispel the fatigue of several days of hard work. For Iranians, becoming familiar with world journalism on one hand and learning about other cultures was also appealing. Such an opportunity sometimes leads an observer to conclude that if these journalists were at the negotiating table instead of politicians, the process would be much smoother! Journalists, too, during these negotiations, are human beings who, alongside their profession, live like other ordinary members of society. In these months, we witnessed numerous events in the normal course of life. One of the veteran journalists in this field, Michael Adler, whom I last saw in a wheelchair covering these negotiations in Vienna, passed away. On the other side of the coin was another journalist who could not join the negotiations due to the birth of his child. Another journalist from Iran spent days and nights worrying about his sick father left behind in Tehran while he had come to Switzerland for work. Another could not celebrate his child's birthday at home like many other mothers. It is these kinds of life stories that remind us that alongside journalism, we are human beings. Human beings who, in pursuit of achieving an understanding between Iran and the 5+1 on solutions, told each other that we would miss each other. Although we have completed one round of this marathon, a long road lies ahead. Therefore, we did not say goodbye to each other but simply said, 'Until we meet again'! Hana Kavyani has been collaborating with Radio Farda as a journalist and reporter since 2007. During this time, she has closely followed political and diplomatic developments, including the ups and downs related to Iran's nuclear file and the negotiations leading to the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.