Original Intent
The photograph of the blindfolded hostages was taken on November 5, 1979 by a revolutionary Islamist photographer who wished to remain anonymous (“Hostages Being Led by Blindfold"). The photographer was one of many who used the media to the benefit of the Iranian revolutionary cause. The image was shown not only in Iran, but distributed and published internationally as well. The Khomeini supporters took pictures showing the helpless American hostages in order to raise support for their revolutionary cause, while also discrediting and demoralizing the United States, a country known to revolutionaries as the "Great Satan" (“In pictures: Iran hostage crisis”). The photographers hoped to show that Iran was more powerful than the United States, as Iran held onto and controlled the hostages while the U.S. was unable to save these captured citizens. As noted by journalism professor Andie Tucher, "What the pictures focused on was the militants. The militants came to understand the power of television and they played for the camera" (“Headlines From 'Hell’”). Whether taking pictures of the miltants holding onto the hostages, burning an American flag, hanging an effigy, or gathering in large crowds, Iranian photographers in support of the revolution grabbed their cameras and took shots to espouse their cause. The images effectively made their way onto television screens and into newspapers across the world, in the process making the hostages crisis, as Time magazine wrote, "America's obsession" (“Headlines From 'Hell’”).
Above: Iranian students burn an American flag on November 9, 1979 (“The Iran Hostage Crisis, 31 Years Later -- PICTURES”).