Is Iran’s military funding the media?
A common refrain often heard in Western media about Iranian media is that certain outlets are “close to the Revolutionary Guard.” This accusation often implies that the specific hard-line newspaper, website or news agency has an editorial focus that resembles or advocates the policies of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Drawing direct links between a specific website and an institution as large and as powerful as the IRGC can be difficult. Every so often, however, this topic comes up when officials with influence raise the issue.
Summary⎙ Print Hesam al-Din Ashna, cultural adviser to the Iranian president, said that some media in Iran receive money from the country's defense budget and are established enough to attack other media.
AuthorArash KaramiPosted August 10, 2015
Hesam al-Din Ashna, President Hassan Rouhani’s cultural adviser, spoke to the Islamic Republic News Agency on National Journalists Day in Iran and touched on the topic of media outlets funded by military institutions. “The costs of many [media] was established under the name of the country’s defense budget and their work is to oppress the real media of the country, and one must think why media is imagined to be an enemy,” Ashna said.
Ashna did not clarify what he meant, but in Iran’s highly polarized media, criticism from one media outlet against another is intended to create controversy with the hope that the judiciary will bring about charges against the offending media. This tactic is mostly used by hard-line media, which often has the backing of powerful organizations and institutions against Reformist media, which often has little backing.
Ashna continued, “Our concern for those of us who work in the field of professional media and news is that oversight on weak media is strong and oversight on strong media is weak.” In continuing his criticism of the media supervision bodies in Iran, he asked, “How is it that … Kayhan is so impolite that no one would dare file a complaint against them?”
Kayhan newspaper is one of the most hard-line newspapers in Iran. Its editor, Hossein Shariatmadari, is appointed by the supreme leader. While the readership of Kayhan may not be high, the editor’s connections and the near immunity to hurl accusations and harsh statements against opponents has made it one of the most read newspapers in Iranian media.
Kayhan has been one of the most vocal critics of the nuclear deal. Ashna criticized this imbalance in oversight of the media, saying, “If there was [professional] oversight on the nuclear issue, which no one said anything in eight years and everyone was silent, but when the discussion turned to removing the sanctions and opening the chain of sanctions, everyone grew a voice and became nuclear experts.”
While the "golden era” of Iranian journalism under the early years of Mohammad Khatami’s administration are long gone, there is still a great deal of diversity within the print media, particularly between Reformists and hard-line print media. Rouhani’s administration has used the Culture Ministry to suspend hard-line media over their coverage of the nuclear deal. But these suspensions have often been temporary. The judiciary, which has at times targeted Reformist media, particularly over sensitive religious matters, continues to have a great deal of influence over Iranian media.
In other news, Alireza Teyebnia, Rouhani’s economic minister, is under the threat of being impeached. On Aug 9, he received his third yellow card from parliament. Teyebnia had attended a parliamentary session to answer questions, and he was not able to satisfy the members of parliament with his answers.
Read more:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/08/iran-media-rouhani-advisor.html#ixzz3iVcHDboP
