The Islamic Republic Propaganda--Same story, Two Headlines

Hadi Heidari (Shargh newspaper)

"Fars News" posted a story today about the "Minister of culture" and his remarks after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart during a visit to Bali.

The same story was carried in the Persian (Farsi) and English pages of "Fars News" website. Please note the difference in title and content.


English version in its entirety (spelling errors and all):

News number: 9107119480
15:11 | 2012-11-15
Foriegn Policy

Minister: Iranians Eager to Enhance Ties with Egypt



TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Culture Minister Seyed Mohammad Hosseini underlined Iran and Egypt's abundant commonalities, and voiced Tehran's readiness to develop all-out ties with Cairo.

"We consider Egypt as an ancient country with a brilliant culture, civilization and history, which has been influential in major developments of both the Arab and the Islamic world, which is the reason why we have been eager for having a greater extent of relations and interactions with the Egyptians," Hosseini said in a meeting with a delegation of Egyptian artists and cinematographers.

"The Iranian people, particularly researchers, when hearing the names of prominent Egyptians, such as the theorists, writers, reciters of the Glorious Qur'an, and artists, and in recent years the Egyptian cinematographers, are reminded of the rich Egyptian culture, civilization, and history," he added.

"That is the reason why I personally believe if Iran and Egypt would be side by side of each other, this would definitely be to the benefit of not only the Islamic world, but also the benefit of the entire mankind, and yield blessings beyond imagination," Hosseini said.

The culture minister reiterated, "Quite naturally, there are opponents to amicable relations between these two major powers in the Islamic world, whose unity would lead to advancement, wellbeing, and developments of the world Muslims."

After the collapse of Hosni Mubarak's regime, the Iranian and Egyptian officials voiced their interest in the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi officially invited the then Egyptian counterpart Nabil Al-Arabi to pay a visit to Tehran.

Later, the Iranian foreign minister and his former Egyptian counterpart also held a meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

Also, during the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran late August, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Egyptian counterpart conferred on ways to promote the bilateral relations between Tehran and Cairo, and stressed the need for continued consultations in this regard.

In a latest development, Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi in a meeting with Salehi in Cairo in September said that Iran plays an important role in resolving the regional crises, and underlined that Tehran and Cairo should be united in dealing with global challenges.

"When the followers of unrighteousness are united in their unrighteous path, why should not we go united in our right position when dealing with global challenges," Mursi said.

Stressing that Egypt assumes Iran's stability as its own stability, he said, "There is no problem between Iran and Egypt." (1)

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Farsi version of the same story:

[I am translating a few segments into English for the benefit of my friends in Tel Aviv. Please note that the translation will be conveying the "general meaning" and not the "literal meaning" of the Persian text. (Feel free to submit alternate translations)]

Nov 16 2012 GMT - 03:29 / تهران - 06:59
گروه فرهنگی / حوزه سینما91/08/25 - 12:06شماره: 13910825000221

وزیر فرهنگ و ارشاد در گفتوگو با فارس عنوان کرد

[The minister of culture and (Islamic) guidance in an interview with Fars:]




برخورد با حضور بدون مجوز فیلمها در جشنواره خارجی

(Dealing with (Iranian) films that participate in foreign film festivals without permission)

خبرگزاری فارس: محمد حسینی گفت: قطعاً با کارگردانی که فیلم بدون مجوز میسازند و در جشنوارههایی که مورد تایید ما و سازمان سینمایی نیست شرکت میدهند برخورد خواهیم کرد و نحوه تعامل ما با آنها متفاوتتر خواهد شد.

[We certainly would deal with any film director(s) who make movies without permission and submit them to film festivals (foreign) that we and the cinema association don't approve of; our method of confronting this will be different (implied: worse) in the future.]

به گزارش خبرنگار سینمایی فارس، سیدمحمد حسینی عصر روز گذشته پس از دیدار با هنرمندان مصری در گفتوگو با خبرنگار سینمایی فارس در مورد عدم حضور ضابطهمند فیلمها به جشنوارههای سینمایی خارج از کشور اظهار داشت: برای حضور فیلمها در جشنوارهای خارج از کشور، بعضی را مستقیم از دولت و سازمان سینمایی میخواهند که ما موظف به این کار هستیم و حساب شده هم عمل میکنیم.

وی در ادامه افزود: به طور مثال برای معرفی فیلم به اسکار آنها رسماً از ما میخواهند که اثری را معرفی کنیم اما خیلی از جشنوارهها هم در خارج از کشور برگزار میشود که طرف آنها اصلاً دولت نیست، آنها جشنوارههای خصوصی هستند و از افراد دعوت میکنند چه بسا اخبار آنها هم منعکس نمیشود، لذا ما باید اینها را از هم تفکیک کنیم.

وزیر ارشاد در ادامه گفت: در کل ما نیازمند هستیم که در این زمینه مقررات ویژهای داشته باشیم و کسانی که میخواهند چهره نادرست از ایران ارائه بدهند یا به نوعی سیاهنمایی کنند یا فیلمهایی که با منافع ما سازگار نیستند ضوابط و مقرراتی بر آنها حاکم شود که همکاران ما در سازمان سینمایی این قضیه را دنبال میکنند.

(The minister continues to say: Overall, we need special regulations to address this, and people who want to convey a negative portrayal of Iran, or in someway damage its image, in a manner that hurts our interests should be subject to these regulations so that our colleagues in the cinema association could pursue these matters)

حسینی در ادامه گفت: البته ما هر جایی که متوجه شدیم خیلی سریع موضع گرفتیم مثلاً در مورد فیلم سینمایی «یک خانواده محترم»، بلافاصله ما محکوم کردیم و گفتیم این فیلم از طرف ما مجوز ندارد.

وزیر فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی در پایان این گفتوگو خاطرنشان کرد: قطعاً با تهیهکننده و کارگردانی که چنین فیلمهایی را بدون مجوز میسازند و در جشنوارههایی که مورد تایید ما و سازمان سینمایی نیست برخورد خواهیم کرد و نحوه تعامل ما با آنها متفاوتتر خواهد شد. این طور نیست که اینها تاوانی برای کاری که انجام دادهاند پس ندهند.

[They (film producers and directors) would not escape paying a price for their actions.]

انتهای پیام/و
(2)

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As usual, the Iranian state media is trying to portray the positive side of the Islamic republic to the outside world while reserving the ugly side for the Persian section of the news. It is also evident that conciliatory tone is approved for foreign consumption only, and the Iranian people are not permitted to see the subdued concilatrary Iran as it wouldn't fit with the rocket firing defiant image.

Through this story, the regime is demonstrating its committment to censorship and wants to send a strong message (threat) to filmakers who produce "unauthorized" movies and show them to the world, while at the same time the English page editors realize that such draconian statements won't sit well with the English speaking world, hence the totally different English version of the interview.  We go from "minister threatens filmmakers" to "minister eager to enhance ties with Egypt". Even the posted photograph of the minister convery a more western images in the English version.

Two realities, same news site!

Needless to say, the minister seems to forget that the Islamic republic already has "special" powers to punish independent film producers and directors as evident by the unlawful imprisonment of the Sakharov prize winner Mr. Jafar Panahi. (3)

I'm curious to see how the cyber basij will spin this story, I'm sure the "Zionist entity" will come up at some point.


Ps. No word yet as to whether or not the Iranian culture ministry officials have watched the once "authorized" movie "Argo" yet, and if they approve of its catch phrase (some of you will know what I mean, but if don't, it's not a disaster).

References:

(1)http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9107119480
(2)http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13910825000221
(3)http://www.uskowioniran.com/2012/10/sakharov-prize-today-traitors-tomorrow.html