Why Did the Iranian Government Lose the Media War?

By Alireza Bahrami

TEHRAN: These days, Iran is under the influence of popular protests that began about a month ago. Protests that have caused thousands of deaths, thousands of injuries, and huge financial losses.

In this conflict, the Iranian government has faced protesting people at home, protesting Iranians abroad (who have immigrated to other countries), the son of the former Shah and his supporters, and Persian media outside Iran (BBC Persian and Iran International at the forefront of them).

Evidence also shows that the protesting people are influenced by Persian television networks outside Iran. The images of these television channels are available through satellite receivers.

Now, after a month, it can be said that the Iranian government has lost to the other opponent in this media conflict. A heavy defeat against an opponent that the Iranian government believes are agents of spy services such as Mossad and the CIA.

Two days ago, while public sentiment had subsided a little, the Iran International network broadcast a 12-minute video. In this mobile video, a man searches for his 17-year-old son among the bodies of young people killed in the early days of the protests (dozens of bodies). The release of this video not only reignited public sentiment, but also created an anger among Iranian protesters that made them more confident in continuing to criticize the government.

Iranian television tried to question the video. An attempt that was unsuccessful.

Why did the Iranian government lose the media battle?

1-Iranian television is state-owned. Not only does no one in the non-governmental sector have the right to launch a television channel according to the law, but Iranian television has always been in the hands of the extreme right-wing political faction. This political faction has always been in the minority, but the power has always been in their hands. The fundamentalists who control Iranian television have intensified their constant project of eliminating quality personnel since 3 years ago (the previous round of protests). They replaced them with a group of young people loyal to them. This decision caused the quality of programming on various Iranian television channels to decline further.

This is while the annual budget of Iranian television and radio is more than 230 million dollars. This figure does not include income from advertising and other methods of generating income. This budget is financed by the money from the sale of Iranian oil.

2- The Iranian government arrested or dismissed many journalists after the presidential election protests in 2009. A significant number of professional journalists became unemployed. A group of them were forced to transfer to other jobs. A group of them also emigrated. Most of those who now work in Persian networks outside Iran. This process has continued.

3- Censorship in the Iranian media has reached a point where people have lost trust in them. The silence of the Iranian media about many subjects has made television networks outside Iran, even though they do not have an office or representative in Iran, more successful. Because they have subjects to attract an audience, and they have also reached a revealing tone. Veteran journalists and university professors in the field of communication sciences have repeatedly pointed out these mistakes, but the Iranian government has always insisted on repeating the mistake.

4- A significant part of censorship in Iran is carried out by self-censorship of the media. There are several news agencies active in Iran. In fact, many news websites operate in the form of news agencies. In the past 20 years, the directors of these news agencies have been divided into two groups due to government interference and pressure. One group of people who lack the necessary expertise and knowledge have become directors of news agencies due to government interference. They betray the responsibilities of journalism in order to maintain their position.

The other group is experienced journalists who, when they become directors of news agencies, turn their backs on the responsibilities of journalism. They argue that maintaining their position is beneficial for freedom of expression and the responsibilities of journalism. While it is very easy to prove that this is not the case and they are just making excuses. In fact, those who are affiliated with the Iranian reformists (left wing) are, as media directors, consciously or unconsciously, implementing the policies of fundamentalist extremists.

These reasons have caused the Iranian government to lose the media war to the opposing opponent; even though the international internet has been cut off in Iran for more than 400 hours.

The Iranian government has always accused Persian networks outside Iran of belonging to Israeli and US spy networks, or of being funded by Saudi Arabia, some European countries and the US. On the other hand, critics of the Iranian government’s media policies believe that this volume of expulsions of professional journalists from Iranian media and the country of Iran is suspicious. They point out that these expulsions were carried out by fundamentalist extremists. Is it not possible that Mossad and CIA spies have appeared in the role of fundamentalist extremists?

Some experts believe that if Iran had a plan for media energy in addition to nuclear energy, its situation would be better.

In Persian, there is a proverb that says: “There is no cure for the disaster you brought upon yourself.”