{"id":9065,"date":"2019-01-12T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=9065"},"modified":"2019-01-12T12:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T11:00:27","slug":"yellow-journalism-fake-news-mek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2019\/01\/yellow-journalism-fake-news-mek\/9065\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow journalism and fake news the yummy scapegoat of the mullahs\u2019 regime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yellow journalism and fake news the yummy scapegoat of the mullahs\u2019 regime<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor decades, Tehran\u2019s theocratic rulers have gone to great lengths to make inroads in Western media outlets once notable for upholding commitments to journalistic independence,\u201d writes professor Sheehan in his article \u201cTehran\u2019s Influence Operations a Threat to Journalistic Independence<\/a>\u201d. Yellow journalism and fake news<\/a> is what we have been witnessing for decades being used by the mullahs\u2019 regime and its proxies as well as its lobbies, as a tool to demonize the legitimate alternative to this regime, NCRI, and its core organization the MEK\/PMOI<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leading media outlets to fulfill this intention for the mullahs in the west are The Guardian, Channel 4 from Britain, Al-Jazeera English, The Independent, and MSNBC. These organs either use former journalists who previously worked for regime-controlled media or are in its payroll. Through these journalists, the regime pursues its Yellow Journalism and fake new against its opposition. As an example as professor Sheehan puts it: \u201cNote that Marathi, who wrote the libelous report slandering the MEK, previously served as a Tehran-based correspondent and has been known to lavishly praise the regime\u2019s illiberal President Hassan Rouhani.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why are this yellow journalism and fake news so yummy for the mullahs\u2019 regime?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially from December 2017 when the vast demonstrations formed in Iran in defiance of the current regime, we are witnessing that protests and strikes have not halted even for one day throughout 2018. The demonstrations which seemed to start because of poverty swiftly turned to huge protests with political demands from their first days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main slogans were: \u201cDown with dictator,\u201d \u201cdeath to Khamenei,\u201d and \u201chardliners, reformists! It is over\u201d. These slogans showed the deep wish and demand of the Iranian nation: this regime must go and freedom and democracy must turn back to Iran.

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