Iran to launch Spanish-language television

Sep 30, 2010, 10:23 GMT

Tehran - Iran was to start broadcasting television programmes in Spanish in a bid to promote its ideology, a news report said Thursday.

'As half of the world population speak Spanish, we will start a new Spanish-speaking network within the next few months,' said the head of Iran's state television network IRIB, Ezatollah Zarqami.

'This new Spanish network will have a major role in reflecting the ideological legitimacy of our system to the world,' Zarqami added during a meeting with the country's mass prayer leaders in Tehran.

The IRIB is considered the principal propaganda tool of the Iranian establishment with five main channels and several others.

Besides the Farsi-language programmes, IRIB also provides news services in Arabic and English.

Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took power in 2005, Iran has intensified its self-titled 'confrontation against soft-war' - a term used for its struggle against alleged propaganda by the global media.

The campaign includes several initiatives to reach out beyond Iran's borders through foreign-language programming.

The al-Alam news network is aimed at the Arabic-speaking world, and the English-speaking public is targeted by the IRIB's Press TV.

As Iran has no private television broadcasters, the IRIB has no local competition and is watched by the vast majority of the country's population of over 70 million.

Foreign satellite channels provide the only competition. Besides the Farsi news programmes broadcast by the BBC and Voice of America, there are also several entertainment programmes aired mainly from the United States.

But Zarqami said that at most 30 per cent of Iranians have satellite dishes, and expressed confidence that even those turn off their receivers in prime time hours and watch Iranian TV.