Rafsanjani urges openness in Iran's national broadcasting organization

ISNA - Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani

Head of Iran’s Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Iran’s national broadcasting organization, Seda va Sima, not to operate in the form of “a gang” or else it would lose the trust of the public. He added that Seda va Sima needs to assume a more “national” approach and pay more attention to people.

In the past nine months of protests to the outcome of the June presidential elections, the opposition has on several occasions spoken out against the biased nature of the national broadcasting organization's reflection of the issues at hand.

Seda va Sima is the most powerful media outlet in Iran and has gone a long way in trying to portray election protesters as “a group of rioters.”

They have pursued this one-sided approach by producing programs that paint the leaders of the opposition, disputing candidates MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi as foreign-backed conspirators and refusing to give them any space to defend themselves.

The Seda va Sima Organization is under the direct supervision of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Government supporters and the conservative faction of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly commended the activities of the national radio and television broadcasting organization and described it as a true defender of the system.

On the opposite end, Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini has accused Seda va Sima of even distorting the teachings of his grandfather, the founder of the Islamic Republic, in order to discredit the opposition.