Rouhani’s Advisor: Expose Corruption and We Will Provide Moral Support

“The media should expose, and we will provide moral support,” this is the summary of what Hassan Rouhani’s cultural advisor said. After Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani asked the media to expose the “names of corrupt people”, his cultural advisor Hesamedin Ashna announced that “the government would provide moral support to media that expose economic corrupt individuals.”

On the last day of a gathering t celebrate the media and news agencies held last Saturday, president Rouhani had said that corruption was among the main issues of Iran’s society which called for the country’s media to expose. He called the media, “the most powerful power that could get into the field and battle corruption.” He stressed that the names of corrupt officials and people should not only in his pocket. “The names of corrupt people should be communicated to the public through our journalists,” he said.

Rouhani’s outreach to the media to expose the names of corrupt officials and businessmen is a departure from the norm in the country. “If the media and the press all get engaged, corruption could be prevented. The media should raise the cost (of corruption) so high that nobody dares step into this path,” he continued.

Rouhani’s aide Ashna picked up on the cue and told Tadbir website, “The media can act as the country’s monitor or observer, be the arm of the judiciary and of the executive branches of government.” He explained that the government could not provide legal support to the media but it could provide moral support for its expose of economic corruption. “Support of those newspapers that expose economic corruption is within the realm of the state inspectorate organization. The law makes it the duty of the inspectorate to support media that act as supervisory bodies. The media can act as voluntary monitors for the inspectorate,” he said.

Ashna did not elaborate on this “moral support,” so it is not clear what use would such support have for the media if the judiciary could stop the work of any media. Since Rouhani has come to office two newspapers have already been shut down by the judiciary, Bahar and Aseman, while two other newspapers Neshat and Ham-Mihan were stopped from publishing. The minister of culture, whose agency oversees the work of all media in the country, did nothing when Aseman newspaper, a pro-government outlet, was shut by the judiciary and directed questions about the closure towards the judiciary.

Mohammad Ali Pourmokhtar, the head of article 90 committee of the Majlis, believes that before expecting the media to take the lead in exposing economic corruption, the government needs to take the lead. He told Tadbir newspaper, “If the government can identify who are responsible for economic corruption, it will not be difficult to announce their names. On the other hand, the media which does not have definitive information on this and has only speculative and unconfirmed references may actually get into trouble if it publishes names of individuals it suspects have engaged in economic corrupt activities.” He continued, Economic corruption extends from inside the executive branch of government and agents of the branch who help corruption take place. So the administration’s duty is first to identify who are corrupt and then disseminate this information to the media to follow up.”

Hardline Critics of the Government Respond

Rouhani’s remarks asking the media to expose the names of corrupt individuals was immediately met with criticism from the principlist media. Rouhani has criticized the shutting of newspapers and has said that closing a media outlet should not be the first act against an outlet. He has also said media that is critical of the government and outlets that support the government need to be treated equally by officials. “Critics and opponents of the government are free and shall remain free. But let them enjoy the same freedom and security that is enjoyed by pro-government media, particularly that media which presents constructive criticism,” he has said.

Vatan newspaper however printed the image of a man whose mouth had been covered with tape and wrote, “Mr. Rouhani’s remarks about freedom of expression, particularly his implicit objection of the closure of a pro-government newspaper was disappointing. As president, he should know that the reason for the closure of the newspaper that supported him was because the “Imam’s path” has remained alive. In fact, it was shut to show that the Imam’s path is alive and active.” The Imam’s path is a reference to those who claim to follow ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary vision.

The chief editor of the newspaper Reza Shakibai, which belongs to Mehrdad Bazrpoosh, is a principlist member of the Majlis who recently told Fars news agency, “It is not right for the president to call newspapers which attack religion and sacred values to be pro government. It is below the stature of the president to support a specific newspaper at a gathering where he should have been neutral.”

Shakibai has said, “On one hand Mr. Rouhani says that newspapers should expose the names of corrupt people while on the other sends directives asking the media not to expose names in specific oil corruption cases. It is interesting that when a media asks why it must not expose names associated with an oil corruption case, they file a lawsuit against the media.”

Hardline Kayhan newspaper too headlined, “Rouhani drove over critics.” Its editor Hossein Shariatmadari who is directly appointed by ayatollah Khamenei wrote that Bahar and Aseman newspapers had published “slander and had questioned Islamic rulings and were in line with British Wahabis and Salafis and the Zionists.”

Gholamreza Sadeghina, the editor in chief of Javan newspaper which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards also criticized Rouhani’s remarks. He told Fars news agency, “Rouhani is himself a lawyer and should know that an official agency must identify the criteria (for naming corrupt individuals). There will be chaos if the media undertakes this on its own. Perhaps what he means is that now that he is the president, he too will specify the criteria.” He asked the president to start this notion of freedom of expression and the media by taking the lead for agencies under his direct control. In this light, the national security council, he continued, should not issue directives to newspaper on what to publish and what not.