Wednesday, January 21, 2009

BBC Persian TV

Its nearly a week since BBC Persian TV started its broadcasting. Apparently its the talk of the town in Tehran and everyone is asking 'Did you watch BBC TV last night?' from one another. The truth is that the Islamic Republic state TV is so boring, bland and overtly indoctrinating and evangelist (State Shiite evangelism that is) that any half professional run TV will be different and amusing to watch for the Iranians inside Iran. How long the novelty will last, is another matter however.

My initial reaction to BBC Persian TV broadcasting was that at last VOA Persian will have some level pegging competition other than the state run TV in Iran. At last the VOA Persian program makers and editors will have to stay on their toes and no longer be able to make decisions based on their personal envies and preferences as to who can be invited or otherwise on their nauseating talk shows and interviews.

The Islamic Republic state reaction to BBC Persian TV has been anger and fear along with accusations of espionage and a plot to bring about a velvet revolution, or soft overthrow, as they call it. Sort of thing one would expect from the Iranian government, for they seem to be scared of everything including their own shadow as we say in Persian when we want to describe a paranoid person.

So how has the BBC TV been so far? I haven't had much time to watch the programs but from what I have watched, my first impression was that at least the BBC is making original television programs. I have often said VOA Persian TV is not TV but another radio station. They have no programs other than news and interviews and some irrelevant copy/paste programs from other sources.
BBC on the other hand has some fresh original ideas that can be classed as TV programs and not just news and interviews. As for the 'soft overthrow' that the Iranian regime is worried about, I just fail to see any signs of it. I watched a reconstruction of water boarding torture used in Guantanamo prisons, the devastation of Gaza by the Israelis, more grave news about the financial crisis in US and Britain, and so on. Just the sort of thing the Iranian state TV wants to show to the Iranian public but in a less evangelist way and with better looking presenters, and since the BBC is also hosting the likes of pro-Rafsanjanis liars like Massoud Behnoud, I can safely advise the Iranian government that they should have no worries at all. The UK government on the other hand should have a lot more to fear from PRESS TV and the messages it is sending to the English speaking Muslims, that's for sure!

8 comments:

Winston said...

I don't wanna be cynical but it's very tough for me to trust BBSakineh and its pro-regime stances anger me so much. And since this outfit is run by the same morons in the same house, I can not trust them.

Anonymous said...

جمهوری اسلامی دارد با «اتهام زنی» علیه برنامه ی تلویزیونی بی بی سی برای آن بازار گرمی می کند تا توجه مردم را به آن جلب کند. این شبکه در برنامه های خود به عنوان سیمای برونمرزی جمهوری اسلامی عمل می کند و در حالی که مردم ایران در خفقان سیاسی بسر می برند، و کشور در آستانه ی فروپاشی نهائی اقتصادی و فرهنگی و اجتماعی قرار دارد، بی بی سی برنامه هائی در زمینه ی عمل جراحی بینی در ایران یا رانندگان زن در تاکسی های تهران و موضوعات انحرافی دیگر پخش می کند. حکومت ایران می کوشد با طرح چهره ای مخالف برای بی بی سی توجه مردم ایران را به آن معطوف کند، تا مردم به آن شبکه اعتماد کنند و آن شبکه بتواند به بقاء دین و تشیع و آخوندیسم در ایران دامن بزند. البته بسیار زیرکانه و حساب شده.

Anonymous said...

Cemetery: Khavaron to be destroyed by the regime's thugs.

http://kamangir.net/2009/01/18/khavaran-cemetery-the-testimony-to-brutality-has-to-be-preserved/

Anonymous said...

was quite surprised to find out that the British government, in this harsh economic environment and with so much shortage of funds and bankruptcy in England, spent so many millions of pounds for this Farsi broadcasting TV.

Why would any government in their right mind invest so much money in a televisisn network, to broadcast news in a language other than their own for a country/ies other than their own, if they do not have some ulterior motives?

I have noticed that that they report the news pretty much with the same content and degree of censorship as the IR government controlled media do inside. so why waste so much money to say the same things twice

Anonymous said...

Dude, the BBC TV broadcast is garbage. It's the same damn shit CNN broadcasts, but it's in Persian. But wait! They got some great shows that host Iranian musicians from around the world!! Again, garbage.

Who cares about some Icelandic Persian singer who made it big Reykjavik - honestly, like anonymous said, why would the British be wasting millions of dollars to do this?

Maybe they're money would be better spent retraining their police force:)))

be salamat,
barmakid

Azarmehr said...

:)) yes you are right Barmakid, think how many better trained coppers they could recruit for 15 Million pounds! Well said.

Anonymous said...

Honestly though, I think the more information that's disseminated in Farsi, the better. It puts our culture out there, and for that, I thank the BBC.

But please, I would rather see Azarmehr with an amameh on hosting a show about "useful idiots in the west" :)) than some pseudo-gay Persian dude with his shirt half unbuttoned and a gallon of gel in his hair, flossing the new shape of his goatee he came up with earlier that morning talking about Nordic Persian singers.

barmakid

Anonymous said...

How do you feel about the sharia law that is trying to be passed in Britain?