Iran Culture Minister Slams Media for Criticisms

Text of unattributed news report headlined: Saffar-Harandi, the Culture Minister questioned the performance of the criticizing media: They want to bring the government down published by Iranian newspaper E’temad website on 8 January

Political desk: The Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister once again directed his criticism at those media which are critical of the government, for denying the obvious and being unfair when publishing the news concerning the government.

By relying on the fact that the government lacks a sufficient number of supporting media, Saffar-Harandi stated that closing one’s eyes to realities only serves to disgrace the media because despite their negative propaganda, public opinion still strongly favours Ahmadinezhad.

Yesterday, in a gathering of parliamentarian reporters, after the end of the president’s speech, the minister announced that through their unfair treatment, the media critical of the government only intend to bring the government down and take power into their own hands. Saffar-Harandi accused media critics of the ninth government of lacking free thinking because as party mouthpieces, they have no way of providing information independently [freely]. He pointed out that this group of media must take down the banner of independence from the outside faade of their newspaper offices and considered this solution as a useful means of defining what is due by the public. After Ahmadinezhad criticized the media critical of the government in an open session of Majlis [parliament], the culture minister also embarked on the same debate claiming that the critical media have become used to considering day to be night and night to be day and to ignore the positive points of the ninth government.

Although in the gathering of reporters, he was faced with the criticism that the government enjoys a sufficient number of government-affiliated media, he denied the increasing number of newspapers supporting the government and said: I hope to God that it may be so that the government employs a media system as a fair critic of the government but today the biggest criticism of the government is being put forward by the media. According to the culture minister, present conditions are such that the media must be the mouthpiece [loudspeaker] of the system of which the government is the main component.

The culture minister was faced with the question that if the long list of media supporting the government is not held in the latter’s palm, is it not at least behind the government?

Naturally Saffar-Harandi did not consider it particularly extraordinary that for example the Islamic Republic Broadcasting should cover the government’s news: This is not extraordinary. If they do not broadcast the government’s news, whose news will they broadcast? Afghanistan’s?

He added: They should not report government’s news and should put forward the opposition’s news? A national medium must work on the government’s news because the same nation has chosen this government.

Although these comments met with the reporters’ protests, the culture minister proposed the question that if there truly is any goodwill, why have the government’s provincial trips been put in the shade by the criticizing media? Despite the fact that Ahmadinezhad deprived several of the country’s media critical of the government from accompanying the ninth government in its provincial trips and so far no invitations have been made to the heads of the criticizing media, the culture minister believes that going around Iran as a tourist and visiting the country does not need a permit and cannot the media personally prepare a report about the advantages of the provincial trips?

Saffar-Harandi continued to support the president’s critical comments and introduced Keyhan newspaper as one of the sympathetic critics because during the previous government, it sometimes even became Khatami’s defence lawyer. He also mentioned several details from this sympathetically critical newspaper.

The minister’s only response to the criticizing media’s concern for increased pressure by the ninth government, especially in the season of elections, was a simple idiom; When it wants to rain from the sky, it also roars, so that under this banner, in the days remaining until the Majlis elections, the media knows exactly what is going on.

Originally published by E’temad website, Tehran, in Persian 08 Jan 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.