Iranians' angry reaction to plane crash cover-up deepens rift in state media

Voice of America English Service – After Iran admitted its role in shooting down a Ukrainian airliner, contrary to its initial false claim, the negative public reaction to the news coverage indicated a deepening rift in the state-run media.

The Iranian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) made no apology for publishing false news on this subject, and was heavily criticized by smaller news websites, which openly stated that they had been misled by official sources. They apologized to their readers.

This is the most obvious example of the conflict of editorial positions among state-run media outlets in recent years. However, as in previous decades, this conflict remained within the framework of the control of Iran's Islamist rulers over news organizations.

Reporters Without Borders considers Iran one of the most repressive countries for journalists, ranking it 170th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.

Media observers in Iran said in interviews with the Voice of America Persian service that the severe gap in news coverage of the downing of the plane is rooted in management differences between the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation and a number of news websites.

Iran admitted on January 11, 2019, after three days of firing missiles at a Ukraine International Airlines jet, saying its forces mistook the Ukrainian passenger plane for an enemy threat hours after several missiles were fired at a base hosting US forces in Iraq. The Boeing 737 crashed, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian-Canadians. The passengers, many of whom were students, were stopping in Kiev on their way to Canada.

Three days after the plane was shot down, state media reported, citing officials, that the cause of the crash was a technical failure. They also denied international media reports that Western intelligence agencies had evidence that Iranian forces were involved in the downing of the passenger jet.

Iranians reacted angrily after learning they had been misled about the cause of the plane crash. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Tehran and other cities, chanting anti-government slogans, and for days, they expressed their displeasure on social media.

Iranian students at Tehran University on January 14 chanted: "Our voice and image, our shame, our shame!" A day earlier, three well-known presenters of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation had resigned.

In an Instagram post that was later deleted, former TV presenter Gelareh Jabbari said she would never return to the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation: “It was very hard for me to believe in killing my compatriots… I’m sorry that I lied to you for 13 years on Iranian television.”

Saba Rad and Zahra Khatami Rad, two other presenters who worked for the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation until recently, told their fans on Instagram that they could no longer continue to work as presenters for the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Tehran Province Journalists' Guild, whose members work in various news media outlets, warned that the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation has destroyed its credibility.

The association said in a statement on January 13: "We are now burying public trust, the first coffins of which include the official bodies, especially the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, and then the press and websites."

VOA was not allowed to interview these journalists publicly because it would put them at risk of prosecution in Iran. Iranian authorities consider VOA a hostile institution.

These criticisms appear to have had no effect on the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation. According to the BBC Monitoring Service, the state-run media outlet has shown little interest in the protests and continues to staunchly support the government and the armed forces.

The Iranian Broadcasting Corporation (IRC) continued to spread more fake news by broadcasting an apparently malicious phone call made by an individual to the US television network C-SPAN on January 26 to support baseless claims that hundreds of American forces were killed in a missile attack on the Ain al-Asad base. No one was killed in that missile attack.

But BBC Monitoring says mainstream news websites, which usually describe anti-government protests as sedition, have taken a softer tone, with some apologizing to their readers for falsely reporting the plane crash and blaming the authorities for misleading them.

For example, the IRNA news agency published a statement from the Tehran Province Journalists' Association in full. In another case, the Fars News Agency published an unusually detailed report on the popular protests, according to BBC Monitoring.

One reason for the IRIB's indifference to public anger compared to news websites is that it is the most important media outlet for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has the authority to appoint the head of the IRIB, and he uses the institution to convey his messages.

"The BBC's monitoring team, which has worked for the network in various roles for four years, says: 'Voice and television are the first point of contact for most people in the field of news and entertainment and other programs. It is basically the way to contact the government and learn about events in the country.'"

Ahmad Jalali Farahani, a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Denmark, says that for many of the lower classes in Iran, especially those far from large cities who do not have access to computers, mobile phones, or the Internet, the Iranian Broadcasting System is the only news medium.

Farahani, who was previously a presenter for the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation and worked for several news websites, including the Mehr News Agency, said that the viewers and listeners of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation are a vital audience for Iran's Islamist rule because most of them are religious and loyal to the ruling clergy.

Licensed news websites in Iran target a more affluent, digitally connected audience that has access to competing information sources, from social media to Persian media outlets based outside Iran.

Farahani said a website like Fars wants to show Iranians in the digital sphere that their coverage of the anti-government protests is credible: “Protests are happening in the streets, and internet users can follow these developments on social media. So you can’t lie to them. Instead, you have to control and filter the news. For example, you have to say: Yes, there are protests going on, but they are not large crowds.”

State-run news websites differ from the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation in that their managers are not directly appointed by Khamenei.

Sardarizadeh of BBC Monitoring said this gave websites the freedom to react quickly to breaking news, to appeal to different sections of society and to criticize and oppose elements of Iran's ruling elite. But he said this freedom did not extend to coverage of Khamenei. Khamenei's speeches and other activities were covered by all media outlets in the same way, with language dictated by the Supreme Leader's office.

Majid Beheshti, a well-known former IRIB presenter and filmmaker based in the UK, says that IRIB and government websites are no different in another regard: “The tone and wording of news websites may differ from IRIB, but they all serve the common goal of strengthening the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic and work in the interests of the leader of the regime.”

Source: Voice of America