Summary of complaint
We have received complaints from people who feel our coverage of mass pro-government rallies in Iran was biased in favour of the Iranian government.
Our response
Our chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, reported from Tehran, where the regime was staging mass pro-government rallies. Our coverage came on the condition that none of her material was used on the 麻豆社鈥檚 Persian Service, a restriction that applies to all international media organisations operating inside the country. We transparently explained this to our audiences.
Reporting from Iran is an ongoing challenge. In October 2022, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement naming 麻豆社 Persian in a list of individuals and organisations sanctioned for what it called their deliberate actions in support of terrorism, and inciting violence and hate speech and human rights abuses. Our colleagues in the 麻豆社 Persian Service are not allowed into the country, suffer daily harassment, and their families back home are persecuted.
As such, we put high importance on seeing the situation on the ground, despite not being allowed to share material with 麻豆社 Persian. Lyse鈥檚 reporting featured powerful testimonies from ordinary Iranians on the protests, who told us how they had witnessed people being killed, and spoke about their frustrations and anger with the current regime. It is highly unusual to hear voices like this from Iran.
We were clear that these pro-government rallies came just weeks after the authorities used unprecedented force to kill thousands of anti-government protesters. Those we spoke to described not sleeping properly since the protests, and expressed scepticism at the government鈥檚 claims the protestors were 鈥渞ioters鈥.
Earlier this year, we reported on these protests extensively across all of our platforms, including our main news bulletins on television and radio in English and via 麻豆社 News Persian. The protests were also covered on 麻豆社 Radio 4 news programming, including Today, the 麻豆社 News channel and the 麻豆社 News website. There was a live feed covering the protests on the 麻豆社 Persian website, and 麻豆社 Verify has also been investigating the protests. For instance, we have reported on photos revealing the faces of those killed during Iran's violent crackdown.
As such, we don鈥檛 feel we have legitimised the Iranian authorities' response to the protests, nor normalised the regime itself. We were clear that Iran鈥檚 clerical rulers now face the most serious challenge since the Islamic revolution of 1979. As with all on-the-ground reporting, it鈥檚 important to use appropriate language to capture what we are witnessing for the audience.
We can assure you that our coverage was produced to the highest journalistic standards.