The Director of Press-TV to Head IRIB?

Rooz Online

On November 7th the ten-year reign of Ezatollah Zarghami over Iran’s state-run national radio and television network - aka IRIB - will be over. The decrees that Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei issues for the agencies that are under his direct supervision are usually for five-year terms. Five years ago, Khamenei renewed his 5-year appointment decree for Zarghami and now that that term is coming to closure, there is talk of a new leader at the country’s uber broadcasting network.

For several months now there have been all kinds of speculations about who may replace Zarghami. Some of the names that have popped up are Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel (a former speaker of parliament), Mohammad Hosseini (the minister of Islamic Guidance in Ahmadinejad’s administration), Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi (another former minister of Islamic culture during Ahmadinejad’s term), Mohammad Sarafraz (the current deputy manager for the foreign service of IRIB), and Ali Darabi) the current number two man at IRIB). There were even rumors about the current minister of the interior, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli succeeding Zarghami.

Yesterday, Baztab news site run by the former Revolutionary Guards commander and current secretary of the State Expediency Council Mohsen Rezai, posted an unofficial but confirmed report that Mohammad Sarafraz had been selected to lead IRIB. “Various political factions have been trying for the past months to install one of their own at the head of IRIB. Who leads IRIB is perhaps more important for the administration than others because of which much there is much speculation that president Rouhani has been working to have a person close to himself at the IRIB helm, such as Abdolreza Fazli, his current minister of interior,” it wrote.

On the other hand, Iran, the government’s official gazette wrote this on the subject: “As the possibility of Mohammad Sarafraz becoming the new head of IRIB has been gaining strength, there is speculation about the deputies and other senior staff of the organization in different circles. Among them is that Mohammadreza Jaafari Jelveh, Ali Asghar Poor-Mohammadi and Hossein Karami may be the next deputies of IRIB. The possibility of Jelveh and Poor-Mohammadi is stronger because of their long-time experience. Jelveh is currently is the managing director of Farabi foundation. Among other names that have come up are Ghafoor Modaber Darjezi and Mofateh for the positions of administrative deputy managers. Modaber had for years been the head of the business union of IRIB. Currently, he is the manager of the Development and Maintenance of Iran’s Sports Facilities company and is known to be an efficient leader. Mofateh too was for sometime the deputy in charge of the internal IRIB office of Goods and Business Affairs but he seems to enjoy a smaller chance of becoming a senior officer of IRIB.

The record of the possible successor to Zarghami indicates that IRIB will continue its current direction, if not changing to become even more hardline against Rouhani’s administration.

In addition to being the head of IRIB’s foreign service department, Sarafraz is also the director general of Press-TV, the English language arm of IRIB. He is also a member of the national group that makes decisions on cyber issues (Shoraye Ali Fazaye Majazi). This government group was established by a decree from ayatollah Khamenei three years ago and Sarafraz is there by virtue of being the director of IRIB’s foreign service department.

After the cyber group was established, Baztab website wrote this about Sarafraz: “He began his career in written media. Then he joined Resalat newspaper – a conservative Iranian daily – and then moved on to IRIB when Ali Larijani, the current speaker of Iran’s parliament was the network’s director. He began to work in the foreign service and then became the head of Press-TV. After that, he also became the head of the Hispan network. He begins his participation in the cyber group with the possibility of moving even further up in his career because of the special trust that he enjoys.”

During the time that Sarafraz was the deputy of IRIB’s foreign service, Iran’s state-run satellite television networks suffered some disruptions. This was because of jamming signals that were sent to block out rival networks inside Iran. A few months later, Iran was forced to make a commitment not to transmit jamming signals towards satellites. After this, permission was granted again to 24 foreign service networks to operate. At that time, the deputy minister of communications had said, “We had written in the past as well that we had never sent jamming signals against satellite transmissions. We do not do it now either.” He also announced that Iran’s 24 satellite channels would resume their broadcasting.

Press-TV has a more complex record. This network has in the past broadcast the confessions of some individuals who had been arrested in connection with the 2009 elections, including Maziar Bahari, the Iranian-Canadian journalist. After his release from prison, Bahari filed a legal complaint against Press-TV in a British courthouse. Ultimately, Press-TV was sentenced to pay 100,000 Pounds in damages. Press-TV did not pay the fine and its tensions continued. Its licence to operate in the UK was suspended. Then Press-TV filed charges against Bahari in Iranian courts which ruled that he had been publishing slanderous material and condemned him. It then wrote that if Bahari did not return to Iran to serve his prison term, his case would be handed to Interpol and pursue his arrest in the UK.

Press-TV’s activities outside Iran have resulted in much criticism. Still, the network enjoys the support of Iran’s supreme leader.

In 2008, Press-TV celebrated its first founding anniversary. At a ceremony for that occasion Sarafraz had said, “This network has succeeded in extensively and in real time broadcasting news about Iran and the views of the supreme leader of the revolution, and other state officials. The same is true about Middle East issues and the speeches of seyed Hassan Nasrollah (the head of Lebanese Hezbollah which is widely recognized to be the arm of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Lebanon) have been broadcast in their full version, as have issues related to Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq from a different perspective.”

The possible appointment of Sarafraz to head IRIB would mean the continuation of the existing broadcasting direction and policies. These policies have resulted in a sharp drop in the number of its domestic listeners and viewers. Recently, cleric seyed Mahmoud Vaziri, the representative of ayatollah Khamenei for Syrian affairs had said, “Today, the number of (foreign) satellite viewers is much larger than the number of people who watch the programs of IRIB. This is because of the absence of suitable and attractive programs at IRIB and because of non-supervision of parents over their children.”

Ali Janati, the minister of Islamic guidance also last year confirmed this and said, “71 percent of Tehran residents watch (foreign) satellites.”

Zarghami himself has acknowledged that Iranian television has lost some of its viewers. Last year in the month of Khordad he said, “Between 35 to 40 percent of people in Iran watch (foreign) satellite broadcasts. Only 15 percent of viewers who watch (foreign) satellite stations watch IRIB local and national programs.

Even if Zarghami’s figures are considered legitimate, some 29 to 34 percent of Iranians watch foreign satellite TV channels, which accounts to a third of the total viewers.