IRNA Logo from Google Images
An Introduction on
Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Among many important news agencies
inside Iran with different goals and political or social orientations such as Fars
News Agency (Iran’s leading independent /semi-official), Mehr News Agency, MNA (owned
by the Islamic Ideology Organization and is the most multilingual news agency
with seven languages), Iranian Student News Agency, ISNA (created and operated
by Iranian university students), etc. the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
is the official news agency in Iran and it is said that the organization
functions as the primary source of information dissemination within the country
to publish various types of news, bulletins, research works, opinion polls and
stories of general interests. IRNA is a pro-government news agency which is
funded by the current government and controlled based on the regulations and
policies of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic guidance. Therefore, it may be
obvious that its political orientation is toward the ongoing government and it
may be changed in every cycle of four or eight years by changing the
government. Its professional activities must set in the frame of securing
Iranian national interests and it should focus on the main objectives of the
Islamic Republic and Islamic culture.
IRNA: The Official
Source of Access to Information
Excluding Iran territory as a
region for covering the news, the source of information in IRNA dissemination
comes from three other news regions including Middle East and Africa Region, the
head office is in Beirut, Lebanon; Europe and America Region, the head office
is located in London, England; and, Asia-Pacific Region, the head office is in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Furthermore, IRNA cooperates exclusively with some international news agencies like Reuters, Associated Press and so on. Within this contract, the only way of access to their news items and photos within Iran territories is only possible through IRNA. IRNA also has the bilateral cooperation with some of regional agencies such as the news agencies of Russia (Itar-Tass and Rianovesti), Saudi Arabia (SANA), China (Xinhaua), etc. in exchanging news items and photographs.
Beside the news regions with a number of branches in each region, IRNA is also operated by eight main news desks for the purpose of editorial board namely:
Furthermore, IRNA cooperates exclusively with some international news agencies like Reuters, Associated Press and so on. Within this contract, the only way of access to their news items and photos within Iran territories is only possible through IRNA. IRNA also has the bilateral cooperation with some of regional agencies such as the news agencies of Russia (Itar-Tass and Rianovesti), Saudi Arabia (SANA), China (Xinhaua), etc. in exchanging news items and photographs.
Beside the news regions with a number of branches in each region, IRNA is also operated by eight main news desks for the purpose of editorial board namely:
-
Europe and America
Desk
-
Africa and Middle
East Desk
-
Asia-Pacific Desk
-
Indian Peninsula and
Central Asia Desk
-
English News Desk:
This desk is in charge of sending the most important news gathered from IRNA's
various lines, as well as those items acquired through various IRNA cooperation
contracts with various news agencies.
-
Arabic News Desk: The
similar activities as the English News Desk.
-
Persian Language
International News Desk: The Staff are in charge of surveying news items
dispatched from various IRNA news lines in the country and selecting those most
likely to interest foreign readers. These are then rewritten as new items with
information that are not included as being of no general importance to Iranian
readers inside the country added and those that need revision altered.
-
Foreign News Desk:
This desk is in charge of surveying the various foreign radio, television,
satellite, Internet and printed media
items and selecting the news items that IRNA is interested in.
The
Final Outcome
Providing all the information
through news regions and preparing them by news editorials, IRNA publishes
eight daily newspapers and periodicals in three main languages of Persian,
English and Arabic which are all:
IRAN, a daily newspaper in Persian language which is widely popular among Iranians;
Iran Daily, an English daily newspaper;
Al-Vafaq, an Arabic daily newspaper;
Iran Varzeshi, a Persian daily newspaper which covers local and foreign sport events;
Iran Javan, a Persian weekly magazine which concentrates on issues related to the youth;
Iran-e Saal, an annual issue which reports the outstanding events occurred in the country;
Iran Sepid, the only kind in the region and the Middle East in Braille language;
Iran Azin, a monthly journal on interior design.
IRAN, a daily newspaper in Persian language which is widely popular among Iranians;
Iran Daily, an English daily newspaper;
Al-Vafaq, an Arabic daily newspaper;
Iran Varzeshi, a Persian daily newspaper which covers local and foreign sport events;
Iran Javan, a Persian weekly magazine which concentrates on issues related to the youth;
Iran-e Saal, an annual issue which reports the outstanding events occurred in the country;
Iran Sepid, the only kind in the region and the Middle East in Braille language;
Iran Azin, a monthly journal on interior design.
Considering the brief provided introduction about IRNA, this
study aims to draw attention only to two IRAN newspaper in Persian and Iran
Daily newspaper in English. It is going to compare the news items on the topic
of recent 2013 election in Iran in two languages of Persian and English in a
specific period of time from before the election to after that. Through this
comparison, it’s supposed to understand how different the news with the same
concept within the same news agency are published in two languages of English
and Persian.
Nice post and thanks for the information. In Russian they have a saying which translates “he who pays for the music, orders the song.” With regard to journalism, even though they may be owned by the government, is there any competition among the major Iranian news sources? I think that most political leaders understand that an independent media can help to not only resolve societal problems (by exposing corruption, etc…) but can also serve as a relief valve to blow-off social discontent. Would you say that this is true with regard to the Iranian media?
ReplyDeleteAs it is mentioned above, there are many news agencies in Iran which share their news items not only inside Iran territories but also outside of Iran. However, it may be said that the most important ones are Fars News, Mehr News and IRNA which definitely compete with each other and each one likes to proceed the other ones; but the main point is that since IRNA is the official one, toward the government orientation and paid by the government, it is the most trustful one for the government!
DeleteAs an instance, Fars News called itself as an independent news agency but some foreign media like CNN or Reuters mentions that it is not only independent, but also it is leaded by the revolutionary guard or hard-liners who are directly connected to the supreme leader! and sometimes even the audience may interpret the news published by Fars News as the voice of government or the supreme leader
and on the other hand it is good to mention that in Iran, there's no totally private media and even private TV stations! and the government and/or the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance supervise the those which are called as semi-private! Therefore, there's always the option of "banning" the media if they deviate from official guidelines defined by the government!
http://youtu.be/sfBUmVoqouw
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