Seven Lies in Seven Days: Iranian State Media and the US Protests

Iranian media outlets have widely covered recent protests in the United States that were sparked by the May 25 death of an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer. Outlets affiliated with Islamic Republic hardliners, which are usually stingy in reporting events within Iran such as forest wildfires, are generous in their coverage of negative developments in the US and show no compunction about publishing exaggerated reports or even fake news.

But one reformist politician, Ali Shakouri-Rad, says the way outlets like the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) have covered the unrest is “disgusting” because of their double-standard in not covering comparable domestic stories.

“The killing of a black man by the American police and their violent treatment of protesters is horrifying and must be condemned, but it is unbelievable and ludicrous when those in Iran, who have done much worse than the American government, condemn it,” says Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, a reformist activist and daughter of late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Nevertheless, state media such as the Young Journalists Club, an affiliate of IRIB, and the daily newspaper Kayhan, a paper that is published under the supervision of the office of the Supreme Leader, talk about “American decline” or insist that events in the US are the price America pays for the “blood of the martyr Soleimani”, the Quds Force commander who was killed by in an American drone strike in January.

IranWire has selected seven lies from among the many that Iranian state media have disseminated about protests in the United States.

1. Halal Shops inside Starbucks or McDonald's Stores

Foad Izadi is an Iranian foreign affairs analyst who is often asked by foreign media to clarify policies of the Islamic Republic. In an interview with IRIB, Izadi said that among the protesters were some with “revolutionary” and “farsighted” views, adding that “a person from California’s Oakland has sent a message, saying that angry people attacked chain stores but the a halal section [food items permitted by Islamic laws] inside Starbucks or McDonald's were left untouched. This shows that they are discerning.”

The attitude of Americans towards halal food aside, claiming there are halal sections within Starbucks or McDonald's is pure invention.

2. Internet Shutdown in Washington D.C.

On social media, a number of conservatives and hardliners claimed that the internet in Washington D.C. had been shut down. A sympathetic news site, Mashregh News, quoting the Al Sura news agency, reported that “according to a number of news sources, the internet in Washington D.C. has been cut off.”

But NetBlocks, an NGO that monitors internet access around the world, reported that during the period in question internet connections in the US capital were not disrupted in any way.

3. Trump Shuts Down Twitter

On May 29, under the title “US shuts down social media to fight social unrest”, Kayhan wrote that in 2009 [in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections in Iran] the American government prevented Twitter from temporarily shutting down its service for system upgrades and asked it to remain operational as street protests unfolded in Iran. But now, Kayhan reported, the situation was reversed; US President Donald Trump had issued an order, Kayhan said, stopping social media in the country

Nothing of the sort actually happened. What did happen was that Trump issued an executive order to change section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which currently makes social media sites largely immune from prosecution for content posted to their platforms. Trump was chafing because Twitter had added fact-checking links to two of Trump’s tweets claiming that mail-in voting would produce a “rigged election.” He wanted to retaliate by changing the law that protects social media.

Section 230 of the act provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an "interactive computer service" who publish information provided by third-party users. The rule also allows the service providers to remove or moderate material they deem obscene or offensive and even constitutionally-protected speech as long as it is “done in good faith.”

Trump wants this immunity lifted if a social media site engages in “editing content” but, at the moment, his executive order has no legal force. And either way – no social media in the US was shut down or blocked during the recent protests.

4. Fighter jets flying over Washington D.C. have robbed people of their sleep

Marzieh Hashemi, a host of the Islamic Republic’s English-language Press TV broadcaster, who was born Melanie Franklin in Louisiana, and who moved to Iran and changed her name after marrying an Iranian man and converting to Islam, told IRIB that “Two night ago I was talking to my niece in Washington D.C. She told me that she could not sleep at night because of the noise of the fighter jets that are flying all the time. I believe that military forces over there are on full alert. I spoke to others, too. They say that when they go to the demonstrations, the internet, the phone and everything is shut down.”

The interesting part is that, at the end, she emphasized that “I myself did not see this in the news.”

5. Inaccurate and Exaggerated Statistics

On June 2, in a news round-up on the protests and violence in the US, Iran’s state-run News Network claimed that “martial law” had been imposed “in most American states” whereas only nighttime and limited curfews were declared in some cities in 20 states.

This report even contradicted an earlier one that was published by the News Network on May 31. That report said curfews had been imposed in 25 American cities in 16 states where the demonstrations had become “serious.”

6. Wrong Statistics about Killings of African-Americans

In the same May 31 report and in a number of other reports, the News Network used an interview with Netfa Freeman, an American activist who was introduced to readers as a member of the “Association of Blacks for Peace.” The interview mentioned a set of 2012 statistics that said that every 28 hours an African-American was killed, including 313 who were unarmed.

In 2014, the Washington Post fact-checked this claim and wrote that 44 percent of African-Americans killed in 2012, i.e. 136 of them, were unarmed. Further, with additional research, the Washington Post concluded that the claim that an African-American was killed every 28 hours was inaccurate.

7. Violence against Arrested Protesters

Under the title “What is happening in American prisons these days?” Iran’s Young Journalists Club claimed that arrested protesters had been treated violently and that one had been killed in prison. The report quoted unidentified social media users as its source but did not provide any particulars or links to substantiate its claim.

This report, and others like it, portray an America that, suspiciously, looks very much like the Islamic Republic in its treatment of protesters.

 

Related Coverage:

Iranian State Media's Disinformation about the Protests in the US, 5 June 2020

A Vintage Khamenei: Ten Deceits in Under 30 Minutes in Anniversary Speech, 4 June 2020