Official Confident Iranian Press TV Will Have Viewers in West
Posted on: Monday, 2 July 2007, 18:17 CDT
At 1917gmt, Iranian TV's network two held its nightly roundtable discussion on the launch of Iran's first English-news channel Press TV this afternoon.
The programme started with a short report saying Press TV will try to look at world news from a different angle.
The studio guests were president's advisor for media affairs Dr. Mehdi Kalhor and the deputy head of Iran's Voice and Vision Organization for international affairs, Mohammad Sarafraz.
Sarafraz elaborated on the activities of Press TV, saying it'll have news bulletins every half hour. Political documentaries from 22 countries of the world have been produced so far, said Sarafraz. He added producing documentaries and political debates on the US are on the agenda of the network.
Also speaking at the roundtable, president's advisor Kalhor said that Iran needed to set up Press TV long time ago. He said the TV will try to spread Islamic and revolutionary messages, adding that in the future Russian and Spanish TV news channels should also be launched to address the huge number of audience speaking those languages.
Asked how successful Press TV will be, Kalhor said the TV's success would depend on how far it maintains its "independent identity". Referring to Western media, Kalhor said the new TV channel should avoid becoming "one of them", adding that Press TV should show the sides of stories that are not broadcast in Western media.
Commenting on Press TV's motto of "news in new", Sarafraz said the UK and the US have most powerful world media under their control and both are trying to justify their military presence in the region through their media.
He said the UK and the US, despite their military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, have managed to influence public opinion in the West and portray Iran as the main culprit in those countries. Therefore, he said, the TV will try to present the news from different angles and show the other sides of the story to its viewers.
Asked to compare Press TV with Al-Alam, Sarfaraz said when Al- Alam was launched, it was not well-prepared but it managed to find its own place in the Arab world.
At the beginning of the Iraq war, he said, Al-Alam offered a third point of view and conducted military debates which were unique among the Arab media.
Comparing Press TV with other English-language media, he said the Iranian channel will not try to justify West's policies and will have an independent approach towards all the stories.
Sarafraz said news networks like Press TV already have a huge audience in Western world, adding that the critics of British and American governments will be among the viewers of the TV.
He said since the launch of its website six months ago, Press TV has been the most viewed news website in Iran.
Elsewhere, Kalhor was asked to comment on how the TV will try to change Iran's image in the West. In response, he said, despite launching the TV with years of delay, Iran "will know its mission" and will implement it.
Kalhor also called for the opening of a Turkish language news network to address Azeri and Turk viewers.
Commenting on Press TV's budget, Sarfaraz said the entire budget for all Iranian TV channels which are broadcast inside and outside the country is less than BBC World's budget. He called for further investment and budget allocations in Press TV.
In Iraq's Kurdestan for example, he said, we only have a couple of hours of Kurdish programmes which should be improved. He said there is a high demand in Iranian-made programmes which promote religion and a true moderate Islam, as opposed to a radical Islam.
As for the name of the channel, he said there were better options but many of them had already been taken by other news organizations or websites.
Sarfaraz was asked to explain the difference between Press TV and Sahar TV English, which was recently closed down. He said Sahar TV was a cultural network and Press TV a news network. He said the same applies to Al-Alam and Kowthar, which are both Arab-language but with different natures.
He also said that the number of Press TV correspondents will increase from the current 27.
The roundtable ended at 2011 gmt.
(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East
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