BBC Monitoring

Text of report under "What else is news?" column headlined "Strong criticism of Panahian against IRIB programmes" published by Iranian newspaper Iran website on 2 January

The first piece of news we have is that Hojjat ol-Eslam Alireza Panahian [well-known religious orator] has voiced strong criticisms of the contents of the cultural and religious programmes on the Voice and Vision [state radio and TV organization's] outlets. He said: If the Voice and Vision had openly invited the people to commit sin, it would have been better than its current practice, where it is in effect preparing the grounds and paving the way for sins.

Hojjat ol-Eslam Panahian, who was speaking at the first nationwide seminar of the weblog writing associations, went on to say: The productions of the majority of directors and script-writers are such that one gets the impression that they were brought up in families in which there were always only fights and arguments and in that manner, they tend to make use of the media to pave the way for the society's non-acceptance of religious tenets and principles.

He also criticized the cultural expert! s working for the Voice and Vision Organization, and emphasized: Some of our experts tend to pluck their subjects' eyes out, while trying to tidy up their eyebrows [Persian proverb, referring to extreme clumsiness or ineptness] and this is something which is evident in the majority of the programmes. The average age of our young girls and boys starting to show an interest in the visible manifestations of [moral] corruption has come down sharply and this is solely indebted to the hard work of friends in the Voice and Vision Organization!

Source: Iran, Tehran, in Persian, on 2 Jan 08, p3