Guardian | September 30, 2010
is to reach out to Latin America with a Spanish-language television channel to explain the “ideological legitimacy” of the Islamic system.
“As half of the world’s population speaks Spanish we will start a network within the next few months,” Ezatollah Zarqami, the head of Iran’s state television network, IRIB, announced in Tehran.
IRIB broadcasts in Arabic, English and other languages – as well as Farsi. It has repeatedly been accused of illegally jamming broadcasts into Iran it dislikes, most notably of BBC Persian TV and the Voice of America in Farsi.
“This new Spanish network will have a major role in reflecting the ideological legitimacy of our system to the world,” Zarqami told prayer leaders.
IRIB is the principal mouthpiece of the Iranian state. One of its five channels, English-language Press TV, which has a large bureau in London, is described as intended to break the “stranglehold” of the west over world media. It claims to provide “accurate and unbiased coverage” of Middle East events.