More Religion on State Radio and Television

نویسنده
Arash Motamed

» Zarghami Lays Out Five-Year Plan

Ezatollah Zarghami, the head of Iran’s state radio and television broadcasting, who was recently reinstated by ayatollah Khamenei for another five-year term, announced yesterday twelve new restrictive guidelines for radio and television broadcasting, including a make up ban for women broadcasters and airing fewer musical segments.  Zarghami identified more religious programming as central to his plan for the second five-year term.  


According to Fars news agency, Zarghami announced his other plans as follows: “creating a religious and revolutionary atmosphere in all divisions of the agency,” “permeating optimism for the future of the regime,” “revealing the regime’s self-correcting potential in face of existing problems,” “raising awareness of the regime’s achievements in all segments of society” and “providing the appropriate model of living centered around the family.

The candidates in the most recent presidential election as well as the head of the Expediency Council have repeatedly provided evidence of the state radio and television’s biases coverage in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  The sixteenth report released by Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s committee to monitor elections cites “numerous violations” and “biased radio and television” reporting as instances of election violations.

As the country’s political situation became tense after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad laid accusations against Hashemi Rafsanjani during his debate with Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the office of Hashemi Rafsanjani issued a statement criticizing the state radio and television broadcasting corporation’s performance and requested a chance to respond to the accusation.  The radio and television broadcasting corporation has not yet responded to the request.

It must be noted that during ayatollah Khamenei’s meeting with a group of elite students, a Sharif University student criticized the state radio and television’s coverage of events in unprecedented critical remarks against the Islamic Republic supreme leader.  He said, “What the radio and television broadcasts has no connection to our society’s realities.”  The criticism enticed ayatollah Khamenei to also criticize the radio and television: “I myself have criticisms against the radio and television.  Do not think that because the head of the organization is appointed by the leader, the leader watches every single program and comments on them.”

Interestingly, the supreme leader’s criticism of the radio and television was censored during broadcasting.