Mick Hartley

We’ve heard about BBC Arabic. BBC Persian, it seems, has its own problems. From the Times:

A former head of BBC Persian has warned that the service’s reputation has been “shattered” by its coverage of the Iran war because of a failure to reflect the mood of many ordinary citizens.

Sadeq Saba, who was head of the Farsi-language service for seven years from 2009, has claimed that BBC Persian has lost credibility with swathes of its audience who welcome the international attacks designed to help overthrow the regime.

“When you go to anti-regime demonstrations in London, people are saying: ‘Death to Ayatollah BBC.’ A lot of people now hate BBC Persian,” Saba said. “Its reputation has been shattered.”

They fail to register the anger of the Iranians against the regime, just as they largely ignored the slaughter of tens of thousands in January.

We are shocked.