Media disinterest does not merely reflect public discourse, it shapes it. By refusing to meaningfully cover Iranian-led protests, Canadians get a message that some struggles for freedom matter more than others. It tells Iranian women that their rebellion against forced veiling is less newsworthy than Western debates about symbolism. It tells Iranian Jews, Baháʼís, Kurds, and LGBTQ exiles that their persecution is too inconvenient to highlight. Most troubling, it distorts. When principled Iranian voices are absent from the airwaves, the public is left with a twisted narrative of Middle Eastern politics — one in which Islamist movements are romanticized and secular resistance is rendered invisible.