BBC Persian

The BBC first started a Persian radio service during World War II on 29 December 1940, encouraged by the Foreign Office, as part of its Empire Service. The government reasons for prioritising this was concern that the Iranian king, Reza Shah Pahlavi, was sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941, the Foreign Office encouraged broadcasting about king's autocratic style and republican systems of Government.^[2]

The Persian Service continued after the war as part of the BBC General Overseas Service, with more editorial independence from the UK government. However the risk of the Iranian nationalisation of Anglo-Persian Oil Company created an exceptional circumstance causing the Foreign Office to issue memorandums of advice and lists of points to make to the BBC, and the amount of broadcasting more than doubled. This caused many Iranians to believe the Persian Service was not independent, and an advisor of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh said the "BBC was the voice of British imperialism and we did not trust it".^[2]

In September 2022, the World Service announced the proposed closure of its Persian and Arabic radio service as part of a cost-cutting plan, but an online service will remain.^[3]

The British government used the BBC's Persian service for advancing its propaganda against democratically elected Prime minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and anti-Mosaddegh material were repeatedly aired on the radio channel ^[4] to the extent that Iranian staff at the BBC Persian radio went on strike to protest the move.^[2][5] The BBC was at times even used directly in the operations, sending coded messages to the coup plotters by changing the wording of its broadcasts.^[6]

From 1965, the newly formed BBC World Service took over the running of the BBC Persian Service.^[2]

In the years before the revolution, the BBC Persian Service became highly trusted and liked by listeners, and gained mass appeal beyond intellectuals and the Iranian diaspora.^[2]

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his supporters became critical of the BBC in creating the environment for the popular upheaval that eventually led to the Iranian Revolution in February 1979.^[7] The Shah frequently sent telegrams to the BBC about Persian Service reporting. The Iranian Ambassador in London, Parviz Radji, tried to tone down these complaints recognising the BBC was acting independently, but had many meetings with the top management of the BBC in the late 1970s, including the Director-General Ian Trethowan. In the year before the revolution, the Persian Service interviewed the major contenders: one with Ayatollah Khomeini, three or four with Prime Minister Shapur Bakhtiar and two with Karim Sanjabi, leader of the National Front who were seeking a peaceful democratic transition from the Shah's rule.^[2]

During the revolution, Iranian media was heavily censored, resulting in long strikes by journalists, and the BBC Persian Service gained an even larger country-wide audience.^[7]

In 1980, the BBC correspondent in Iran was expelled and the BBC office in Tehran closed. For 19 years, the BBC covered Iran from London with occasional short visits to Iran by correspondents. However, after the 1999 election of President Mohammad Khatami the BBC was able to re-open a Tehran office with a resident correspondent.^[7]

As of 2000, BBC Persian Service output was about 28 hours per week, with a mixture of news, education and entertainment programmes.^[7]

BBC Persian has had a web presence since May 2001.^[8]

In 2008, the BBC announced the launch of the BBC Persian Television. It was launched in January 2009 and is based in BBC Broadcasting House, London. It complements the BBC's existing Persian-language radio and online services.

It was initially broadcast for eight hours a day, seven days a week, from 17.00 to 01.00 hours – peak viewing time in Iran. It is freely available to anyone with a satellite dish in the region.^[9]

BBC proposals for the service were drawn up by senior BBC management. These were approved by the then BBC Governors – the body that oversaw the BBC and ensures the BBC's independence from the UK Government. They were then submitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for their consent as the BBC is obliged to do under the agreement with the FCO.

The operating cost of £15m a year will be funded by the UK Government.^[10] Funding for the new service was announced by then UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in a speech in October 2006. The funding was confirmed by the next Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in October 2007. Some 140 staff are employed of which about 40 are support personnel.

BBC Persian has been long criticized and accused of promoting Iran regime's propaganda such as homophobic views in their programs by many Iranian's living outside of Iran. ^[11] Many of Iranian's regime opposition believe that BBC's news are directional and one-sided that helps and justifies Iranian's regime brutality toward people of Iran. BBC Persian have been accused of the publication of a large amount of low important news and information, fragmented and sometimes archival images that have drawn severe criticism from the audience of this media claiming to be honest. ^[12]

In 2018, the BBC made an appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to help stop Iran from harassing its Persian Service staff in the United Kingdom and their families in Iran. The BBC states Iran began targeting BBC Persian staff after the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, when the Iranian government accused foreign media and intelligence services of interference. Iran has accused 152 current and former staff and contributors of "conspiracy against national security" and started criminal investigations, as well as instigating an asset freeze on many of those staff.^[13]

Iran rejects the harassment allegations. Iran's permanent mission to the UN in Geneva stated "BBC Persian is not an independent media network ... Its financial and political affiliation with the ministry of foreign affairs and the British security agencies has been very serious."^[13]

• Sreberny, Annabelle; Torfeh, Massoumeh (October 2008). "The BBC Persian Service 1941–1979" (PDF). Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 28 (4): 515–535. doi:10.1080/01439680802313088. S2CID 191338945. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
• Safiri, F.; Shahidi, H. (23 February 2012) [15 December 2002], "Great Britain xiii. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.), Encyclopædia Iranica, vol. XI (Online ed.), Fasc. 3, pp. 276–286, ISSN 2330-4804
• Abrahamian, Ervand (2013). The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the roots of modern U.S.–Iranian relations. New York: New Press, The. ISBN 978-1-59558-826-5.
• Ebrahimi, Mansoureh (2016). The British Role in Iranian Domestic Politics (1951–1953). SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace. Vol. 5. Springer. ISBN 9783319310985.

• BBC Persian at BBC Online (in Persian)