Leading Poet Says State Broadcaster Sidelines Literature

Mehdi Ghazali, the chief executive of the Iranian Poetry and Fiction Foundation, has criticized the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for neglecting the country’s rich literary heritage and sidelining poets and writers when it comes to cultural content.

“Why doesn’t the IRIB have a literature department, I ask myself?” he said to an audience at Fajr International Poetry Festival on January 31. “Why does literature fall under the domain of the IRIB Arts and Culture Department, which is primarily infatuated with cinema, theater and music?”

According to Mehr News Agency, Ghazali was frustrated by the broadcaster’s refusal to honor Iran’s rich literary heritage, refusing to give ample airtime to it. “When we talk about books, a major part of our focus is on literature,” he said, “Because perhaps 70 percent of our books are considered to be literature. But even the National Book Council ignores literature. Therefore, I have to call the council incompetent.”

He told the audience that the IRIB gives poetry and literature a narrow platform, “exiling” it to “channels, programs and hours with the lowest number of viewers.” Even when a program about literature is in production, he said the IRIB is unwilling to back budgets for the projects, asking those involved to help fund projects and even pay for airtime. “With our miniscule budgets we cannot oblige our friends at IRIB,” Ghazali said. He said IRIB has no policy in place to ensure writers comment regularly on  literature or poetry — and suggested this actually went against what a significant proportion of its audience wanted.

According to Mehr, Iranian state-run radio and TV do broadcast poetry on special occasions including Nowruz and Yalda, which marks the winter solstice. But often, Ghazali said, anchors read out the poetry, and often fail to do the masterpieces justice.

The agency also reported that IRIB refused to broadcast the Jalal Al-e-Ahmad awards in late 2016, which was attended by 650 people working in literature and the arts. The awards, named after the celebrated Persian literary figure, recognize literary and cultural achievements.