IRAN/MEDIA: "THE DAILY ABSURDITIES" OF WORKING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000498

SIPDIS

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL TU IR
SUBJECT: IRAN/MEDIA: "THE DAILY ABSURDITIES" OF WORKING
FOR PRESS TV

REF: A) ISTANBUL 77 B) ANKARA 1602 C) ANKARA 1643

Classified By: Consul General Sharon Wiener; Reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) Summary: The Istanbul correspondent (protect) for
Iran's English-language "Press TV" satellite news channel
shared with us recently a number of anecdotes illustrating
Press TV's "inconsistent approach" to journalistic standards,
including refusing to air her report on recent corruption
allegations against Turkish PM Erdogan, and reproaching her
for submitting a "too pro-American" report calling a recent
US naval visit to Georgia a "humanitarian mission" rather
than Tehran's preferred description of it as "a provocative
military maneuver." Frustrated also with the poor pay, she
is decreasing her workload with Press TV and taking on
projects with "more independent" regional satellite channels
like Al-Jazeera, predicting that other reporters employed by
Press TV may do the same. She also described Press TV's
coverage of US Presidential elections as intentionally more
critical of Senator McCain's campaign than Senator Obama's.
End summary.

Testing the Limits
--------------


2. (C) Consulate General Istanbul's "Iran Watcher" met
recently with the Istanbul correspondent for Iran's
English-language "Press TV" 24-hour satellite news channel
(please protect) to follow-up on past discussions with her
over Press TV's reporting standards and editorial line. The
correspondent, a UK national (not of Iranian ethnicity),said
she was feeling increasingly frustrated with her employer
over several issues, including "obviously subjective and
inconsistent" journalistic standards imposed by Press TV's
editorial board. She shared several illustrative anecdotes,
including:

-- On August 23 she sent in a video report (available on
Press TV's website) on the transit through the Bosporus
Straits of US Naval vessels into the Black Sea. Her report
called it a "purely humanitarian mission" to Georgia. The
next day she says she received a reproachful email from her
editor in Tehran calling her report "too pro-American" and
asking why she failed to hew closer to Press TV's editorial
line of terming the US naval ship passage a "provocative
military maneuver." She told us that, as with all of her
reports, she had sent in a draft script the day before
producing the report, and the editorial desk in Tehran had
not taken issue at that point with the proposed language. To
her, that indicated that the "overworked" editorial desk
probably had not bothered to review her draft script, and
indeed probably does not review "many if not most"
correspondents' draft scripts before the reports are filed.
That she was reproached for reporting on "what was obviously
humanitarian aid" illustrated to her an increasing tendency
by Press TV editors to reject any reporting that casts the
USG in positive light, even when factually correct.

-- On September 2, she attended a press conference for
Turkish FM Babacan and visiting Russian FM Lavrov (ref B).
She told us that only Turkish and Russian press were allowed
to ask questions, but she ignored the ground-rules, took the
microphone, introduced herself as working for Iran's Press
TV, and asked Lavrov a "hard-hitting" question about Russia
interest in Azeri gas. The next day she received another
reproach from her Tehran editor for "acting disrespectfully"
to the Turkish hosts and to FM Lavrov by taking the
initiative to ask a question and then by asking an
"unfriendly" question of Lavrov. Her editor told her that
she now must vet any press conference questions with Press TV
editors in advance, which she said showed Press TV's "lack of
trust in its correspondents, and its preference for obedient
amateurs over real journalists."

-- She recently submitted a report detailing the public
allegations of corruption made by a leading Turkish business
and publishing mogul against Turkish PM Erdogan (ref C),but
Press TV refused to air it. She told us that Press TV
editors have lately rejected any reporting from her that is
critical of Turkey's AKP government, and especially of PM
Erdogan. In contrast, she said her editors continue to
encourage her to report on the government's investigation of
secular and military officials involved in the so-called
"Ergenekon" coup plot against the government. She speculated
that Tehran sees the AKP government's leaders in Ankara as
"probably the friendliest to Iran of any possible Turkish
government" and thus off-limits for official Iranian media
criticism.


ISTANBUL 00000498 002 OF 002


No uniform standards, no willingness to support training
-------------- --------------


3. (C) The correspondent also bemoaned the lack of any
journalistic training offered to its employees by Press TV.
She recounted that Press TV's Ankara correspondent, an
Iranian national who is a former English teacher hired by
Press TV only eight months ago, recently quit because Press
TV refused to offer him training or pay a portion of the cost
of a journalism training course he wanted to take in Ankara.
"He knew he wasn't a qualified journalist, and he wanted to
become one, but they weren't interested in that. They just
wanted him to keep filing mediocre reports from Ankara in
good spoken English." She said the Ankara correspondent's
resignation may prompt a few other correspondents in similar
situations to do the same. The Istanbul correspondent also
complained that Press TV was not willing to compile its own
handbook of standards, leaving it to each correspondent to
"figure out Press TV's standards and expectations by trial
and error, report by report." She pointed to State/IIP's
Persian-language brochure, "A Handbook of Independent
Journalism," which Istanbul's Iran Watcher had shared with
her previously, and said she wished she could share copies of
that with her fellow Press TV correspondents, but she worried
that doing so would likely get her fired. She said she is
planning to travel to Tehran in October to visit Press TV
headquarters, and will press her editors on the need for
Press TV to offer professional training to its employees.

Working on the side, waiting for new opportunities
-------------- -


4. (C) To alleviate some of the professional and financial
frustration of working for Press TV, she said she is
increasingly taking on independent reporting projects from
other regional satellite news channels. She described
several current projects she is undertaking for Al-Jazeera,
including reports on unsafe working conditions in Turkish
shipyards and the challenges faced by ethnic Tartars in the
Black Sea region. She hopes those projects might persuade
Al-Jazeera to offer her a full-time job, though she plans to
continue working for Press TV at least through the end of the
year, for two reasons: (1) Press TV has reached an agreement
to begin broadcasting its reports on UK's Sky TV starting in
December, and she says she wants her parents in the UK to be
able to see her reports on-air, and (2) She wants to
contribute to Press TV's coverage of US Presidential
elections, seeing such coverage as an opportunity, "even as
an objective journalist," to "help bridge gaps between Iran
and the West." Asked how she thinks Press TV will handle US
election coverage, she said she has seen email traffic
between Press TV editors in Tehran and its US-based
correspondents, encouraging critical reporting of Senator
McCain's presidential campaign, while encouraging more
positive coverage of Senator Obama's campaign.

Comment
--------------


5. (C) Comment: Press TV's Istanbul correspondent has
worked at Press TV for over a year, and admits that the
experience has not been as professionally rewarding as she
had hoped. She assessed that the editorial board "seems
divided between a few real journalists who want to press the
limits of what an Iranian news channel can report, and bring
it at least up to Al-Jazeera's or Al-Arabiya's standards,"
and others on the board who are more ideological, and see it
as nothing more than a mouthpiece for reinforcing the Iranian
government's worldview. We reminded her of a comment she
made to us seven months ago, that if Press TV tried to
micromanage her stories she would resign (ref A),and she
admitted she has come close to quitting, especially over the
several reproaches she recently received from her editor.
But in the end, she continues to believe that despite "the
daily absurdities" of working for an Iranian media outlet, it
is still a paying job that allows her to get on air and hone
her craft. Moreover, she says she still holds out hope that
the management style and views of the few "real journalists"
on the editorial board will eventually prevail, and that
Press TV may yet prove to be a valuable contributor of
independently-minded news sories "that CNN and BBC still
aren't willing to pursue."
WIENER