Rohollah Faghihi of AL Monitor notes that the ‘young, strict conservative’ movement, previously discussed, has taken over the state broadcaster:
The recent appointments of new managers at Iran’s conservative-dominated state broadcaster may indicate that the organization is about to adopt a more hard-line position. This comes as a number of powerful moderate officials at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) have been weakened lately.
IRIB has a monopoly over domestic radio and television services, and has more than 50 channels, with the most-viewed channels being Channels 1 through 6.
Conservative Abdulali Ali-Asgari is the current chairman of the state broadcaster, and like his predecessors, is directly appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. …
In 2014, a new channel named Ofogh (Horizon) was established, focusing on “the concepts of Islamic Revolution, the Holy Defense [1980-88 Iran-Iraq War] and regional developments.”
The channel is managed by the new generation of hard-liners, who are vehemently against the Reformists and moderates. Since its inception, Ofogh has broadcast various documentaries angled against government policies — including the nuclear negotiations that led to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and indeed the nuclear deal itself. The channel has some well-known talk shows that appear to mostly pursue the single goal of weakening the conservatives’ political rivals.
The younger generation of hard-liners who control Ofogh are now determined to expand their domain to the entirety of IRIB, and in the process of doing so, eliminating moderates and other members of the entourage of parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who has been a close ally of Reformist-backed Rouhani in recent years. For a decade, Larijani was the chairman of IRIB; his tenure ended in 2004. While he had adopted hard-line positions during his chairmanship of the state broadcaster, he gradually turned moderate upon leaving the organization.
What better way to enforce the ideology of the conservatives than to take over the state broadcaster? Well, my suspicion is they’ll end up disappointed. True believers rarely attract the masses when the masses have already had recent experience with the true believers, and given how the Iranian citizenry has shifted over the years, it’s quite probable that they’ll quietly ignore these young firebrands, having far more urgent, if mundane concerns at hand.
