About Mehran Modiri's mockery of Persian Satellite TV
Guest blogger: Ramin
A recent video made inside Iran by producer and comedian, Mehran Modiri, mocking Los-Angeles Persian Satellite TV stations (this link), has caused much debate among Iranians in diaspora. Political opponents of the Islamic government in Iran believe Modiri's video was funded by the Iranian government as propaganda against independent private media outside Iran. Others agree with Modiri's portrayal of private Persian language TVs outside Iran as offering low quality, profane, sleazy! programming. Either way, fairness dictates that we consider some facts about the current state of Iranian media in diaspora:
- It is true that some Los-Angeles based Iranian TV stations are indeed politically divisive in their opposition to the Iranian government (for example over the issue of proper flag for future of Iran, etc.). It is also true that many private Persian satellite TV stations are too commercial and offer low quality, sleazy content. But private media outside Iran exercise little censorship and offer their viewers much more freedom of expression (via open phone lines, etc.) as compared to the highly controlled and censored state-run TV media inside Iran.
Censorship
- The 40 plus Persian TV stations outside Iran, including foreign state-funded BBC and Voice of America, have a combined annual budget that is a small fraction of Iranian state TV's $1 Billion propaganda budget, yet they attract at least as many viewers as Islamic Republic's TV stations.
- Many Los Angeles-based Satellite TVs derive income from marketing and selling low grade products (such as questionable diet pills promoted as FDA approved!), but many of these products originate from sources inside or close to Iran, perhaps under supervision of Iranian authorities.
- Mr. Modiri, in an inappropriate manner, ridicules the gayish behavior of some TV anchors. He also mocks false and distorted statements on private media, but fails to notice that the same problem has afflicted Iranian state-run media.
- There is no doubt that Iranian media in diaspora, despite all their problems, have promoted national (vs. Islamic) Iranian culture and kept alive a dialogue for a secular (non-Islamic) future for Iran. The multitude of voices and the wide range of programs on exiled Iranian media, perhaps reflect the diversity of opinions and tastes among Iranians inside and outside Iran. Many of the Los Angeles-based TV stations (see here) have gone bankrupt, and many more may disappear under financial burdens, or simply out of incompetence or poor business models.
»This is a summary of the original feature in Farsi. To request a more extensive translation of the Farsi text, please contact us.
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