Bias Found in VOA Broadcasts to Iran

According to Nicholas Kralev's Washington Times article, the State Department investigation has found serious flaws in Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts to Iran. The report charged VOA's Persian News Network (PNN) broadcasts of being politically biased.

Apparently, none of the executive producers even understand Farsi, which means its broadcasts are "aired without high-level approval."

"In part because of the language issue, managing editors report not to the executive producer of their show, but to a Persian-speaking senior executive editor," the report said." This arrangement is the source of confusion and sometimes of conflict. Lacking the language of the programs they oversee, as well as a background in Iranian affairs, executive producers must rely on their managing editor to approve the shows' content and resolve differences of opinion among staff," it said. Those differences often result in deep mistrust and "a perception of cronyism" among the staff, "the operation of cliques, and the hiring and rewarding of unqualified people," which "creates ill will and can hamper the employee's effectiveness in the workplace," the report said.

Over the last decade or so, the U.S. government has increased its spending on broadcasting to Iran, allocating $17 million this year alone, as it considers it an important public diplomacy tool to influence Iranian public opinion.

The BBG's mission, according to its 2008-13 strategic plan, is "to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective and balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas." But apparently some "anti-American content to creep into broadcasts."

"While everyone involved with the operation is cognizant of the importance of VOA broadcasting to Iran, some of those who work in PNN appear to lack a clear understanding of the mission of PNN and the centrality of the VOA charter to their work, underscoring the need for additional training," the report said.

Mehdi Jedinia, an Iranian journalist, said that "unfortunately, VOA Persian is not making full use of the opportunity to reach Iranians and does not fully reflect U.S. diplomacy toward Iran."
The service "could help influence Iranian public opinion if they created more imaginative programming that fits Iranian circumstances," he said. "However, despite repeated statements by the U.S. government that it has no intention of forcing regime change in Iran, these media seem to support Tehran's allegations that the United States wants to change the Iranian government by financially supporting the opposition, imposing economic sanctions and isolating Iran in the international arena."

He said the service features "interviews with the family of the late shah and Iranian opposition leaders" and sometimes "has superficial and shallow programs that come through more as ideological propaganda, rather than professional journalism."

The State Department report also questioned the continuation of PNN's radio service, "given the round-the-clock broadcasts of Radio Farda," a joint project between VOA and U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is based in Prague.

Mehdi Khalaji, a Washington Institute fellow and former Radio Farda producer wrote that, "Some of Radio Farda's Prague team members are noticeably anti-American, which can be discerned from their language and the news they choose to produce," and "some Washington team members are well-known for their anti-Islamic stance, their opposition to the Iranian regime," and "they reflect their own political views in news production as well as feature segments," he wrote.

Though the report is not all negative, “VOA successfully built PNN into its first full-fledged network in an extraordinarily short period of time,” said the report. “Given the U.S. strategic interest in communicating with Iranians, PNN represents a major achievement in setting up a network that reaches approximately 29 percent of Iranians in Iran," the report said.

VOA's management welcomed the State Department recommendations.

See the full State department report here.