Mediaboss Marketing

TEHRAN A long-smoldering battle over government control of media and culture in Iran is heating up, as opposing political forces fight over where the limits should be drawn on access to information.

Irans president, Hassan Rouhani, and his supporters argue that press restrictions should be reduced and that the public should be trusted with greater access to the Internet and television.

Hard-line conservatives, meanwhile, believe that such freedom would undermine the countrys Islamic rule.

The debate intensified last week when Ali Jannati, the minister of culture and Islamic guidance under Rouhani, described as ridiculous many of the policies that Iran has adopted since the revolution of 1979 to control the flow of information, including filters on the Internet.

We cannot restrict the advance of [such technology] under the pretext of protecting Islamic values, Jannati said in a meeting with Irans chamber of commerce.

His ministry oversees the licensing of nearly all forms of media in Iran, including newspapers, films and books, and is also in charge of reviewing, and potentially censoring, content before it is made available to the public.

Jannati, whose father is one of Irans most powerful and conservative clerics, is considered a reformist, and many here have interpreted his appointment as a sign of Rouhanis commitment to public demands for a freer media environment.

Some have called for him to go further. In an open letter, more than 400 Iranian journalists recently protested plans that would require individual reporters to be licensed by the ministry based on periodic evaluations of their work by the ministry.

The journalists acknowledged in the letter that some restrictions had been loosened since Rouhani took office. But it said that the licensing process, if implemented, would be an obstacle to any attempts to promote freedom of speech in Iran.

Since Rouhani entered office, gradual improvements in the media landscape are being felt, but there have also been setbacks.

Read more here:
In Iran, a battle over control of media and culture is heating up