Tough Questions to Iran's President Censored on State TV

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Source: Mehrnews.com

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB cut away suddenly from the broadcast of an interview with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on February 23, 2013 interrupting a question-and-answer session by replacing it with a television drama show. The office of the president issued a statement expressing their surprise, but IRIB's Public Relations Department said the interruption happened in coordination with Ahmadinejad's office. Whether it was coordinated or not, it was a hot topic online.

Several bloggers referred to it as censorship.

Cut-away moment

Tough questions

Shahbeldin Sheykhi writes [fa]:

Masoume Hatemkhani, a brave female journalist from Mehr news agency, asked essential questions of Ahamdienjad such as what happened to his promise to create jobs, his slogan to fight against economic corruption, the drop of the national currency… Ahmadinejad replied with standard answers… you can see the disappointment on the reporter's face… Ahmadinejad's policy is just immoral, an immorality that began 34 years ago with a failed revolution.

Ahmadinejad answered that the economic situation is good and that everything going on cannot be linked to his government, such as economic corruption…

Nedayeazadi writes [fa]:

The Islamic regime is against any kind of Iranian people's solidarity and unity… a reporter asked Ahamdinejad if according to his opinion, people should protect themselves against inflation, meaning they should avoid buying some goods in order to push their prices down…. I believe that Ahamdinejad's interview was cut-away to avoid more of such questions.

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