Another Disgrace for the State News Agency

A news website close to Tehran’s mayor Morteza Qalibaf, who was also current President Ahmadinejad’s rival in the 2005 presidential bid, revealed that IRNA state news agency sells its news and presents a positive image of the performance of government agencies that provide it with money.

Fararoo news website revealed this through an advertisement report published by the official state news agency. It wrote that in return for receiving between 15 million to 150 million Toman (approximately between $15,000 and $150,000), IRNA provides news coverage for government agencies and portrays a variety of positive news reports on issues that are of interest to those who provide IRNA with financial rewards.

According to this conservative new site, this state run news agency created the General Commerce Bureau for this purpose and through contracts worth at least 15 million Toman creates “news groups” to provide news coverage of interest to the contract parties. Also, according to the same story, if the payments come close to 150 million Toman, IRNA also provides foreign translations of the news reports it provides thus also disseminating them in its foreign services.

This revelation comes despite the fact that the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran, i.e. IRNA, has a line item in the annual state budget of the country and in 2008 Ahmadinejad’s Administration increased this budget by 62 percent, while the budget of its rival news agency ISNA student news agency was reduced by 80 percent. There have also been reports that because of budget shortages in recent years, IRNA has also received grants from the president whose sum has exceeded the billion Toman mark (approximately $1 million).

Some of the projects that Fararoo mentions for which IRNA has received money are the “Ceremony for Accomplished Workers” (Ministry of Labor), the exhibition of the Sherkate Sahami Farsh Iran (Iran Carpet Company), the Ninth National Congress for Anesthetics and Resuscitation, Seminar on the 100th Anniversary of oil Drilling in Iran (Ministry of Oil), Tenth Annual Exhibition on Medical Instruments and Dentistry, and, the International Seminar on Petrochemicals. It should be mentioned that during the last year IRNA has in practice turned into the mouthpiece of the hardliners because of its increased anti-reform posturing and coverage.

Mohammad Jaafar Behdad who – thanks to his stint at Keyhan newspaper - is currently the youngest managing director of IRNA in its entire 74-year history to head the agency. In its defense of the positions of the news agency, he once quoted the leader of the Islamic Republic who is said to have called IRNA the “clapping hands” of the regime.

Previously, the media had attributed this remark to Saffar Herandi, the Minister of the Islamic Guidance of Ahmadinejad’s administration., who incidentally also is a former Keyhan veteran. Last week, Behdad revealed that this was in fact the instruction of the leader of the regime and added that “this role has also begun at IRNA”.