Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

File:IRIB east gate 2.JPG

IRIB's northeast gate along Valiasr Street, Tehran

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; Template:Langx) or Seda va Sima (Template:Langx) for short, formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian revolution of 1979, is an Iranian state-controlled media corporation that holds a monopoly of domestic radio and television services in Iran. It is also among the largest media organizations in Asia and the Pacific region and a regular member of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Its head is appointed directly by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

With 13,000 employees and branches in 20 countries worldwide, including Italy, France, Belgium, Guyana, Malaysia, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting offers both domestic and foreign radio and television services, broadcasting 12 domestic television channels, four international news television channels, six satellite television channels for international audiences, and 30 provincial television channels countrywide, half of which are broadcast in minority-status languages in Iran, such as Azerbaijani and Kurdish, as well as the local dialects of Persian. IRIB provides 12 radio stations for domestic audiences, and through the IRIB World Service, 30 radio stations are available for foreign and international audiences. It also publishes the Persian-language newspaper Jam-e Jam.

History

Before the 1979 revolution

On 24 April 1940, Radio Iran was officially opened by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – the then crown prince of Iran – with Isa Sedigh as the first head of the company. The channel broadcast five hour programs including news, traditional and western music, religious and sports programming as well as programs dedicated to economic and political discussion. according to estimates from the Statistical Center of Iran, in 1976 about 76% of urban population and 45% of rural population had access to the radio.

National Iranian Television officially opened on 21 March 1967 to create National Iranian Radio and Television. At that time, hardware equipment was at the disposal of the Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone and its media was producing by Advertising and publishing department. In later years, radio and television expansion request across the country to create an integrated entity and from 1971 all facilities were given to National Radio and Television. The Shah personally appointed Reza Ghotbi as head of organization, and the duration of the programs increased quickly.

Before the 1979 revolution about 40% of TV programs were foreign, and imported and internal programs were usually modeled after foreign programs. After the revolution two TV channels (first program and second program) were active and with facility expansion, more than 95% of the urban population and about 75% of the overall population was able to receive TV signals.

After the 1979 revolution

During the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when Arteshbod Azhari became prime minister of Iran, Touraj Farazmand was chosen for head of National Iranian Radio and Television after Reza Ghotbi.

The organization expanded greatly after the revolution, and in addition to internal and global broadcasting channels, it manages more than 100 electronic and written media.

A broadcasting budget of 4,000 billion Tomans was expected in the 2018 budget bill. However, according to Ali Asgari (the organization manager), a channel budget like that of BBC Persian consists of over 6,000 billion Tomans and IRIB needs a larger budget for managing 62 TV channels and 83 radio channels.Template:Clarification needed

During the June 2025 Israeli strikes on Iran, IRIB's headquarters in Tehran was hit by an airstrike on 16 June during a live broadcast, resulting in a temporary halt in programming. At least one IRIB employee was killed in the attack, while the station said its offices were struck by four bombs.

Broadcasting sign

• Sign of National Iranian Radio and Television
  Sign of National Iranian Radio and Television
• Sign of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
  Sign of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

The IRIB sign includes the Emblem of the Islamic Republic at the top and two characters "لا". When this sign was conceived at the beginning of the revolution, it represented the revolution's slogan of "neither Eastern, nor Western – Islamic Republic" and thus symbolized denial of both capitalist and communist influence or specifically the United States and Soviet Union. These two words at the middle get together like a channel and there is an eye sign at the intersection of them (which was later adapted into the logo of the flagship television channel). At the bottom of the sign, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting phrase is written in Nastaliq font in the Persian language.

Organisational structure

According to Article 175 of the Iranian constitution,

1. The freedom of expression and dissemination of thoughts in the Radio and Television of the Islamic Republic of Iran must be guaranteed in keeping with the Islamic criteria and the best interests of the country.
2. The appointment and dismissal of the head of the Radio and Television of the Islamic Republic of Iran rest with the Leader. A council consisting of two representatives each of the President, the head of the judiciary branch, and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Iranian parliament shall supervise the functioning of this organization.
3. The policies and the manner of managing the organization and its supervision will be determined by law.

Channels operated by IRIB

• IRIB TV1: Iran’s first and longest-running television channel, launched in 1958. It offers a wide array of programs including drama series, major Iranian movie premieres, talk shows, news coverage, and live broadcasts of the Friday prayers.
• IRIB TV2: Similar to IRIB TV1, IRIB TV2 offers a variety of programming, including miniseries, comedies, children’s content, talk shows, news, and original films. It is promoted as the family-friendly network of the IRIB family.
• IRIB TV3: Known for its youth-oriented content, IRIB TV3 places a significant emphasis on sports, airing major Iranian sporting events, along with comedies, mini-series, and both local and international movies.
• IRIB TV4: A channel with a more intellectual focus, IRIB TV4 showcases documentaries, academic discussions, interviews with scholars, artistic films, economic shows, theatrical productions, and philosophical programs.
• IRIB TV5/IRIB Tehran: Dedicated to viewers in Tehran, this channel features content tailored to the local audience.
• IRINN: IRIB's primary news channel, providing updates on current events along with coverage of sports, science, and health topics.
• Press TV: An English-language, 24-hour news channel that focuses on Iranian foreign policy. It has been accused of broadcasting government-backed propaganda, which has led to its bans and sanctions in several Western countries.

Affiliates

• Jam-e Jam is the official organ of the IRIB organization.
• IRIB News Department is a news agency affiliated to the IRIB organization.
• IRIB has a movie production company, called Sima Film.
• IRIB also outsources media production to numerous privately owned domestic media companies.
• TAKTA Co. produces technical equipment such as transmission and switching systems for IRIB
• Soroush Rasaneh Co. IT & ICT Company related to IRIB which provides IPTV services and it has 26 branch offices in Iran.
• Soroush Multimedia Co. provides CD/DVD of IRIB programs and holds some special short term education in 31 offices all over Iran.
• IRIB Pension Fund Co. is the holding company of 17 companies related to IRIB, such as Soroush Multimedia Co., Soroush Rasaneh Co., and TAKTA CO.
• IRIB University provides some courses related to media
• IRIB Research Center is responsible for research in the social and religious fields related to media.
• IRIB Media Trade, known before as Cima Media Int'l, is the sole representative of IRIB in the distribution of its productions (documentaries, feature films, TV series, telefilms and animations) as well as program acquisition for local IRIB TV channels.
• IRIB HD was a television channel run by IRIB. It was launched on June 15, 2014. This channel was a channel for test HD broadcasting. At 25 January 2016, it was removed in Tehran and replaced by provincial channel IRIB Tehran, as IRIB TV5 has been national.

Heads

The director-general of IRIB is Peyman Jebelli, who was appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran in 2021.

#	President	Years	Time in post
1	Reza Ghotbi	1966–1979	13 years
2	Sadegh Ghotbzadeh	1979	1 year
—	Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha (acting) & Other acting committees	1979–1981	2 years
3	Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani	1981–1994	12 years
4	Ali Larijani	1994–2004	10 years
5	Ezzatollah Zarghami	2004–2014	10 years
6	Mohammad Sarafraz	2014–2016	2 years
7	Abdulali Ali-Asgari	2016–2021	5 years
8	Template:Ill	2021–present	in post

Controversies

The isolation of Iran’s movie industry has forced filmmakers to reorient themselves around national television broadcasters. These networks churn out ideological products in line with the state’s Islamic gender norms, with women sometimes cast in traditional roles and deferential to men, who are portrayed as their guardians and protectors. Amid the intensified conflict with the United States, Iran’s security establishment has emerged as a major producer of blockbuster television and film centering on the prowess of the Revolutionary Guards and its intelligence services. Iran is awash in sophisticated domestic versions of “Homeland,” and lacks the self-interrogating, subversive cinema that allows a society to have a public conversation with itself about gender, culture, marriage, and power.

Allegations of false confessions

A study published in June 2020 by the Justice for Iran and the International Federation for Human Rights claimed that Iranian television had broadcast the potentially coerced confessions of 355 detainees since 2010. Former prisoners stated they had been beaten and been threatened with sexual violence as a means for their false confessions to be delivered for use by the country's broadcasters.

Censorship of reformists

IRIB, along with other Iranian state-run media, tend to censor or silence voices or opinions of reformist politicians as well as ridicule them even as the reformists are in power since IRIB's editorial bias is closer to the Supreme Leader and the Principlists.

April 2024 Iranian strikes in Israel

In April 2024, IRIB reported on the April 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel — but it actually showed footage of a fire in Chile (not Israel), filmed several months prior.

Religious insults

In 1989, five IRIB employees were prosecuted over a radio report in which Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, was described as not being a suitable role model for women since she lived centuries ago. The incident reportedly resulted in lashes and purges in the agency.

In April 2025, four IRIB employees were arrested on charges related to the airing of a TV program insulting the Sunni caliph Abu Bakr. IRIB head Peiman Jebeli condemned the remarks as “sedition” and “unforgivable wrongdoing.”

International sanctions

United States

Pursuant to the United States Presidential Executive Order 13628, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is subjected to U.S. sanctions under the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act which gives the U.S. Treasury Department the authority to designate those in Iran who restrict or deny the free flow of information to or from the Iranian people.

European Union

IRIB was placed in the list of sanctioned entities of the European Union in December 2022 due to its role in the repression of the Mahsa Amini protests. Following this order, Eutelsat ceased broadcasts of the IRIB international channels for the Europe region via Hot Bird satellite on 21 December 2022.

See also

• IRIB International Conference Center
• Mass media of Iran
  • Television in Iran
• Censorship in Iran
• Sobh International Media Festival

External links

• Template:Official website Template:In lang
  • Template:Official website for IRIB's domestic radio services Template:In lang
  • Official website for IRIB's domestic television services Template:In lang
• Multilingual website of IRIB World Service