Corner SE10: Mahdi Ahmadi | چطور مهدی احمدی فرهنگ گفتگو در ایران را تغییر داد؟ پشت‌صحنه‌ی رسانه آزاد

Mahdi Ahmadi, founder of the Azad Fekr School and the face of the media platform Rasaneh Azad, has played a pivotal role in redefining public discourse in Iran. With a background that began in physics and later shifted to philosophy, he developed a rigorous analytical mindset that shaped how he designs dialogues, selects topics, and confronts social and political issues. Over the years he has built a space where transparency, critique, and direct engagement with differing ideas are core principles. Rather than one‑sided monologues, he introduced the concept of a ‘dialogue lesson’ where experts present their views clearly before collaboratively unpacking complex layers of a topic. Motivated by the economic and social changes of the 1990s, the rise of public interest in debate, and the spread of digital media, he launched Rasaneh Azad as a free, public platform that has become a key reference for critical analysis and diverse voices in Persian‑speaking communities. Ahmadi’s work as a dialogue designer—choosing guests, assessing their relationship to the issue, analyzing intellectual networks, and balancing tension and cooperation—has earned him recognition as a key architect of serious Iranian dialogue.