Iran’s president Ahmadinejad to direct IRNA

Iran Focus: London, Aug. 02 – Iran’s official news agency announced over the week-end that it was giving full editorial discretion to the Islamic Republic’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over all its reporting.

Iran Focus

London, Aug. 02 – Iran’s official news agency announced over the week-end that it was giving full editorial discretion to the Islamic Republic’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over all its reporting.

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Saturday that Ahmadinejad agreed to direct the agency after IRNA officials requested that the organisation be exempted from Article 44 of the Iranian Constitution, which promotes privatisation.

“The authorities do not want any gaffes in what is reported by the official state media”, said Nader Sanaie, a Dubai-based Iran analyst. “Until now they targeted the newspapers and the semi-official news agencies. But now it seems there is a fear in the Iranian leadership that politicised reporting by the official state media might accidently stoke tensions”.

Iran’s press watchdog has banned a string of publications for breaching its strict regulations since Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in June 2009 which set off a series of major anti-government protests with calls for regime change.

The Pars Agency was established in 1934 by the Iranian Foreign Ministry as the official national news outlet, and its name was changed to IRNA in 1981.