“Political Spotlight: Remembering Rafsanjani Amid Media Silence”

Newspaper criticizes media boycott of former Iranian president Hashemi on his death anniv.

Jomhuri-e Eslami, in an editorial on Thursday, highlighted an “inexplicable silence” and boycott of the significant figure of the Islamic Revolution and Iran.

The publication accused “partisan rightist government media, especially the state IRIB broadcaster”, of attempting to “erase Ayatollah Hashemi’s legacy as if he never existed.”

The newspaper slammed removing Ayatollah Hashemi’s name from streets with “irrelevant” justifications and excluding his name and image from historical and political programs as a “clear historical distortion.”

The daily argued that the move “has devalued other narratives presented by program makers and sacrificed the media authority for vindictiveness.”

A newspaper funded by public revenue, not named in the article, deliberately omitted Ayatollah Hashemi’s name in reports on December events, which the publication labeled as “vindictive and immoral.”

Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran’s most influential political figures, died of a heart attack on January 8, 2017.

He was given the title the “Commander of Construction” for his vast efforts to reconstruct the nation after the Iran-Iraq war, but his policies are not appreciated by princplists in Iran.

Source: IFP Editorial Staff