How Iranian TV's 500 Billion Tooman Secret Digital Archive Ended Up at London-based TV
Independent Aggregator of Iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: For the first time since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, rare, raw and shocking footage of the revolution including street protests and executions by Islamic revolutionary courts, has been used in a TV documentary series (Enghelab 57) about the Revolution recently aired on London-based Manoto TV, which opposes a theocratic government in Iran. Other footage are shown in Time Tunnel (Tunnel Zaman) series on the same TV network.
In the past, Iran's state-run TV, as the sole owner of a precious 500 billion tooman digitized film archive of the revolution, selectively used and edited clips from the collection for propaganda purposes. But when Iranian officials noticed fresh usage of uncensored clips on Manoto TV to undermine the Iranian revolution and government, they were outraged and engaged the Ministry of Intelligence, which called the leak as an "inside" job in which rare confidential collection was copied and sold to an outside bidder. Two IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcast) employees were reportedly blamed for the inside job and imprisoned in connection with the fiasco (related news on Kodoom News aggregator: Everything is for Sale! How did Iranian TV's 500 billion tooman digital archive ended up at London-based ManoTo TV).
Manoto TV, a London-based entertainment TV channel in Farsi, was established in 2010 by Kayvan and Marjan Abbassi, former US residents. Manoto TV promotes popular secular and Western style music and entertainment programs, as well as satirical news poking fun at Islamic laws and Iranian ayatollahs. According to The Guardian, Manoto TV continues its operation despite a $45 million loss in 2016-2017. The source of Manoto funding remains unknown but Iran's state-run TV has suggested Manoto TV is financed by the US government and other Iranian sources link Manoto to UK-funded BBC Persian. Defying the Iranian government, Manoto productions have showcased the achievements of the Pahlavi dynasty (the monarchy in power before the Islamic revolution) while skirting around oppression and censorship during the kingdom, as reported in Aljazeera.
Related:
Cultural and Political Forces Undermining the Iranian Government, A List
