Crisis Of Confidence In Iran, Some Journalists Resign

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Iranian news channel IRIB lost three news anchors. One of them resigned because he had lied on behalf of the state for 13 years.

“It is very difficult for me to believe that our people have been killed. I'm sorry that I got to know this late. And forgive me for 13 years I have lied, "said Gelare Jabbari via his personal Instagram account, which has now been deleted.

Quoted from The Guardian, Tuesday, January 14, two other news anchors, Zahra Khatami and Saba Rad, also expressed gratitude for the support of the news viewers and apologized for their mistakes so far. Saba Rad even said that he would not return to journalism.

The statements made by the three news anchors are part of a crisis of confidence in Iran. The crisis of confidence in Iran has emerged since Iranian authorities denied the Ukrainian jet 752 that was shot down by members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The crisis has also resulted in several news agencies with close ties to the Iranian government starting to protest on the streets, or at least to start delivering news that Iran is covering up.

Not only TV, Iranian newspapers are also very disappointed because of this problem. In fact, their readers have now turned to the international media to find out the truth about the accident.

The Etemad newspaper demanded to know how long it took Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to admit to shooting down the Ukrainian plane. They also want to find out whether senior Iranian government figures were actually not informed of the shooting down of the plane.

Etemad has criticized the "structural lies" created by Iranian institutions as well as the lack of coordination between the country's civil aviation authorities and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Etemad not only forced officials to apologize, but also to resign.

The Tehran-based Association of Iranian Journalists said in a statement the country was witnessing a "funeral for public trust" that tarnished the already shaky reputation of Iran's official media.

“There is less faith in the government and people want more freedom. The lies they told about the plane shooting, made the public's trust even more lost. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps knows that very well, ”said Ghanbar Naderi, a commentator on Iran's state-run Press TV.

“Millions of people took to the streets after the killing of Qassem Soleimani. It's a rarity but Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps undermines it. As a journalist, you need to be able to sleep at night. I will never distance myself from the truth. It's a great country. This country has made many unacceptable mistakes. If Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shoots down a civilian plane, I have no choice but to condemn it, "he added.

The head of Iran's civil aviation authority, Ali Abedzadeh, is one of the most criticized. Abedzadeh was the most outspoken in saying that the Ukrainian plane crash was not Iranian. Even Abedzadeh emphasized that from a scientific point of view this event was impossible.

But a few days later, Iranian leader Hassan Roubani admitted that the downing of the Ukrainian plane that killed 176 people was caused by Iran. Roubani said that the missiles were fired at the Ukrainian plane because they were mistaken.