Iran International

Iran International (Persian: ایران اینترنشنال‎) is a British-based Persian television station funded by Saudi investors.[1][2][3] It is aimed at Iranian viewers[1] and broadcasts free-to-air by satellite. The channel has received media attention for its reporting on human rights violations, political developments, LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights in Iran[4][5] and has twice been nominated for International Channel of the Year by the Association for International Broadcasting.[6][7]

Iran International
Broadcast areaWorldwide
HeadquartersChiswick, London, UK
Programming
Language(s)Persian
Timeshift service24/7
Ownership
OwnerVolant Media UK Ltd
History
Launched19 May 2017 (2017-05-19)
Links
Websiteiranintl.com
Availability
Satellite
Astra 2G (28.2°E)11671 H 23000 2/3 (HD)
Eutalsat A/B (7.0°E)11220 H 27503
Streaming media
Live FarsiWatch live

Iran International's news and analysis has been cited in global media publications including BBC News,[8] The Guardian,[9] The Sydney Morning Herald,[10] The Telegraph,[11] Fox News,[5] The Independent[12] and more. Staff at Iran International have also appeared as experts on BBC Radio 4, Sky News, ABC Australia[13] and ITN.

Iran International is available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, Europe and North Africa, with bureaus in Istanbul, Paris and Washington D.C.[14]

Iran International was established in 2017 and is available online, via radio and via every satellite broadcasting to Iran.[14]

News output

Iran International relies on a team of journalists around the world and reports on current affairs, health, technology, human rights violations, LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights and more.[14][15][16][10] The channel has reported extensively on the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran, the Iran Nuclear Deal and global politics.[17][18][19]

The channel also airs television shows on sport, culture and politics and has produced documentaries that have been nominated for awards by the Association for International Broadcasters.[20]

Exclusives Stories

The channel has been the first to report on several exclusive news stories and has access to a network of whistleblowers and sources inside Iran.

Iran International reported exclusively on the extension of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's furlough,[21] and her partner Richard Ratcliffe has been a guest on the channel multiple times.[22] The channel was also the first to report that Iranian rapper Amir Tataloo was facing deportation back to Iran from Turkey,[22] and the sentencing of The Salesman star Taraneh Alidoosti.[23]

During the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran, the channel published exclusive documents pertaining to high level government corruption concerning Covid-19 medical supplies, with The Independent writing that the documents "purported to show how Iran regime figures intervened in the procurement of medical supplies to steer South Korean contracts for Covid-19 test-kits through shell companies towards conservative foundations controlled by cronies".[24]

Reporting on the execution of Navid Afkari, Iran International exclusively interviewed Amnesty International’s Iran Researcher and human rights lawyer Raha Bahreini, who told the channel that “with the secret and previously unannounced execution of Navid Afkari, the Islamic Republic authorities once again showed the ruthless and merciless of Iran’s judiciary system at the international level,”.[25]

Human rights

Iran International has reported on notable human rights violations across Iran, including the execution of Navid Afkari,[26][25][27] the killing of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi,[28] the arrest and imprisonment of British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert[29] and the amputation of four men in Iran for theft.[30]

Lesbian activist and journalist at Iran International, Aram Bolandpaz has produced several documentaries on the LGBTQ+ community inside Iran and has been a vocal critic of human rights violations against the community.[4][15]

In June 2020, Iran International reported on a series of honour killings and gender-based violence that took place in Iran,[31] with legal analyst and journalist at Iran International Nargess Tavalossian, the daughter of Nobel Prize winning activist Shirin Ebadi, speaking publicly to global media outlets about the increase in violence against women in the country.[31][5]

In addition to the execution of Navid Afkari, the channel has reported extensively on the arrest of political prisoners in Iran. The channel has reported on the arrest and possible execution of Iranian-Swedish medical doctor Ahmad Reza Djalali,[32] reports that 85 children face execution in the country,[33] and the arrest of award-winning film director Mohammed Rouslouf[34]

History

Iran International was launched in May 2017, with the aim of serving the 80million people that live in Iran and the Iranian diaspora around the world, in addition to informing and educating a global audience on the latest news and developments in Iran and across the Middle East.[35]

The channel is headquartered in London and broadcasts internationally, with a team of journalists that have joined Iran International from other Persian-language news channels including Manoto, Radio Farda, BBC Persian Service and Voice of America.

Since its inception, Iran International has reported on global events, with a network of international correspondents. This has included reporting on notable events including the 2020 United States Presidential election, the 2020 Beirut explosion, Pride in London, the assassination of Jamal Kashoggi and the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in December 2020.

Ownership

Iran International is owned by Volant Media UK Ltd.[36] It is licensed in the United Kingdom to Global Media Circulating Ltd as an editorial news service based in London.[37] It was launched on 18 May 2017[38] and is managed by DMA Media Ltd, which has bureaus in Paris, Istanbul, Kabul and Washington.[39]

Volant Media, the company that owns Iran International, has a director named Adel Abdulkarim, who is a Saudi national. Adel Abdulkarim is a long time business partner with Abdulrahman al-Rashed, former general manager of the Saudi-owned news channel Al Arabiya and current board member of Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG).[40] According to the report by The Guardian, Abdulrahman al-Rashed was also involved in the operations and funding behind Iran International.[40]

Corporate documents for Volant Media shows that another Saudi national, Fahad Ibrahim Aldeghither, was the major shareholder of Volant Media before Adel Abdukarim.[36] Aldeghither owned over 75% of the shares of Volant Media from May 2016 to May 2018.[36] Fahad Ibrahim Aldeghither was the chairman of Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain) from March 2013 to February 2016. Zain Saudi is the third-largest telecoms provider in Saudi Arabia.[41]

Content
Iran International studio

According to Middle East Eye, Iran International is a media platform for the Iranian opposition.[42] Kourosh Ziabari of Al-Monitor wrote it "does not shy away from presenting itself as an opposition media organization" and frequently gives the microphone to guests who criticize the Iranian government.[43] The channel has been referred to as an "Iranian exile news outlet" by Borzou Daragahi of The Independent.[44]

The channel is known for raising the profile of Reza Pahlavi, the last heir apparent to the former Iranian throne, by constant coverage and repeatedly interviewing him.[42] It also airs extensive coverage of People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), including live broadcast of their rallies.[45] The claim of responsibility for the Ahvaz military parade attack was made through Iran International.[3]

In 2020, the TV broadcast performance of Iranian singers who were flown in from the United States to the Winter at Tantora Festival.[42]

Iran International does not run television advertisements.[45]

Iranian complaint to Ofcom

In 2018 Iran's ambassador to the UK lodged a complaint to the media regulator because of Iran International's interview with a separatist group spokesman after they claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack on a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, killing 25 civilians and military.[46] The channel aired an interview with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for the group, indirectly claiming responsibility for the attack and calling it "resistance against legitimate targets".[47] After a long investigation Ofcom ruled that Iran International did not breach any rules.[48][49]

According to the regulator, Iran International’s presenter “clearly challenged his views and emphasised the violent nature of the attack” during the interview. The channel also included a number of different viewpoints and repeatedly quoted news agencies describing the terrorist nature of the incident.[50]

Alleged lack of editorial independence

Though the TV station states that it "adheres to strict international standards of impartiality, balance and accountability",[51] questions has been raised regarding its editorial independence.[45][51]

In October 2018, The Guardian wrote an unnamed insider states that the editorial content had been influenced by its investors.[45]

According to The Wall Street Journal, "[s]ome journalists at Iran International have complained that management is pushing a pro-Saudi, anti-Iran line". WSJ quoted a former correspondent at the TV station commenting that "a systematic and very persistent push" was made during her time there.[51]

Union busting

Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of National Union of Journalists (NUJ) told Press Gazette "[o]ur members at Iran International have faced intimidation and harassment for their work as journalists —that their rights of freedom of association should be trampled on in this way is a grave injustice and one that the NUJ will do all it can to rectify".[52]

On 10 July 2020, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) released a statement and condemned union busting efforts made by Iran International, its refusal to engage with the UK government's non-departmental public body Acas to recognize a NUJ chapel, as well as what it called a "breach of international labour standards".[53] Iran International had signed a recognition deal with the British Association of Journalists (BAJ), which IFJ describes as a "sweetheart deal" with an "obscure journalists' union", and appointed a senior manager to represent staff while pressuring them to join BAJ.[53] NUJ stated that BAJ had no members there before the deal was made.[52] As of July 2020, BAJ claimed 20 members working at Iran International while NUJ said an "overwhelming majority" of the 140 workers are its members.[52]

On 15 July 2020, it was reported that Labour peer Lord John Hendy submitted a complaint to International Labour Organization (ILO) against the BAJ and Iran International.[54]

Persecution of Iran International staff

In December 2019, Shanti Das of The Times reported that Iran is waging an "intimidation campaign" against personnel of the TV station, freezing their assets, interrogating their relatives and "threatening to snatch them from British streets if they do not quit their jobs". Iran's Ministry of Intelligence had previously named the employees of Iran International as "enemy of the state", writing on its website that those who "serve foreigners" and "betray the country" will be punished.[55] Same publication wrote in May 2020 that Iran International is thought to be target of a state-sponsored programme that "has sought to discredit its reporting and trace its followers" by creating replicas of its social media accounts. Instagram was criticized for hosting the fake accounts.[56]

Staff

The head of TV is Mahmood Enayat,[57] the editor-in-chief of the channel is Hossein Rassam,[38] who was formerly chief political analyst at the British embassy in Tehran.[58] Ali-Asghar Ramezanpour is the news director of the station.[59]

In July 2019, Iranian media reported Mazdak Mirzaei, a football commentator and TV host joined Iran International. Mirzaei had worked for IRIB on the weekly TV sports program Navad, that was suspended by the new head of IRIB 3 in March 2019.[43]

Accolades
Award Year Organizer Result Ref
International Channel of the Year 2019 Association for International Broadcasting Nominated [60]
International Channel of the Year 2020 Association for International Broadcasting Nominated [61]

References
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  2. Eqbali, Aresu; Rasmussen, Sune Engel (22 September 2018), "Separatists Launch Deadly Attack on Iranian Military Parade", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 17 July 2020, Yaqoub al-Tostari was speaking to Iran International TV, a London-based broadcaster funded by Saudi investors.
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