Report Claims Iranian-linked Figure Skewing US Media Credibility Ratings

The Washington Free Beacon, an American news and analysis website specializing in politics, national security, and media, has published a report on the role of Meysam Zamanabadi, a former state-affiliated journalist in the Islamic Republic and a current advisor to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in deceiving American public opinion by manipulating media statistics.

The report states: “Meysam Zamanabadi, a former writer for newspapers affiliated with the Iranian government, is now receiving payment in the United States to work for ‘Ad Fontes Media’ as a media watchdog. He, however, conspicuously provides charts with controversial media biases and attempts to induce American society to believe that media outlets aligned with Democrats are more trustworthy than those with a Republican-leaning orientation.”

Citing an investigative report by media researcher Alana Goodman, the Washington Free Beacon analyzed the reports and assessments that Zamanabadi has provided to universities such as Cornell and journalism institutions like Poynter via Ad Fontes Media. Referencing Zamanabadi’s long-standing history of collaboration with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the former mayor of Tehran, at the newspaper Hamshahri, the report writes: “This newspaper belongs to the Tehran Municipality and is known for its extremist policies; its record includes hosting a Holocaust-denial cartoon contest in 2006. Meysam Zamanabadi’s blog entries show that he was working at this newspaper in 2008 and 2009, a period when Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was the mayor of Tehran.”

The report continues: “Zamanabadi’s media activity charts show that he consistently evaluates news sources close to Democrats as more trustworthy than their conservative counterparts. For example, he frequently rates the socialist magazine Jacobin as having a higher trustworthiness score than established publications like National Review and the New York Post.”

The report further alleges that in the realm of television news, Zamanabadi has manipulated assessments to portray Fox News and its anchors, such as Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters, as less credible than their counterparts at MSNBC, specifically Chris Hayes and Jen Psaki.”