This is not the first time that the BBC propaganda outlet comes under fire for
its biased approach and violation of professional ethics when it comes to
covering events related to Iran. The well-established media giant, using the
cliché "You’re watching BBC World News/You’re listening to BBC Radio,” shaped a
determining chapter in Iran’s history decades ago. A considerable number of
Iranian politicians and the masses will not forget that the media outlet’s
control room turned into a nerve centre for a military coup in 1953 against the
government of former Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, a popular and
patriotic figure. The coup came in retaliation for his nationalization of Iran’s
oil industry.
Despite such a role played by BBC, Iranians interested in politics traditionally
do not miss its programs in order to keep abreast of Britain’s schemes for
Iran’s future. Truly and clearly, Iranians today are not comparable to what they
were six decades ago, and the general public, thanks to years of struggles to
secure their country’s independence, happen to be able to read, even more
intelligently than professional politicians, the minds of those running domestic
and foreign media, so they will not have to pay, once again, the price of
getting caught unawares and forgetting the lessons of the contemporary history
of their country.
The Persian-language Fars News Agency has, in a memo, blasted the BBC’s
performance when it comes to covering events and developments pertaining to
Iran. The full text of the memo follows:
Iranian people turned out in droves in different towns and cities across the
nation Sunday for rallies marking the anniversary of the triumph of the 1979
Islamic Revolution of Iran.
The turnout was so large that different media outlets across the world, even
Israeli media, had to cover the event, describing it as
hundreds-of-thousands-strong or millions-strong rallies.
Not to mention Saudi and Emirati media, probably the only media outlet which
preferred to remain tight-lipped on the huge rallies was the BBC. The British
media company has not broadcast any news on the event so far as if February 11
was an ordinary day in Iran like other days.
This comes as the recent unrest in some Iranian cities a few months ago made
headlines in the BBC news, so much so that the British company broadcast news on
the Iran unrest every minute, sometimes using unconfirmed images.
The BBC’s double standards on Iran developments is reminiscent of the fact that
the media outlet is acting against its own motto of neutrality, and rather than
covering events as they unfold, it has politicized the developments, and only
broadcasts the news which has a place in the media outlet’s jigsaw.
SOURCE: IFP news