Iran
and the BBC have agreed to conditions whereby the media organization will clamp
down on reporting on one of its TV channels, according to reports.
The
BBC has allegedly agreed to not share reporting materials it gathers in Iran on
its Persian language channel, BBC Persia. In emails obtained by the Huffington
Post, staffers within the organization have stated their displeasure at the
decision. Moreover, an internal memo stated that BBC staff must not publish
material from foreign correspondent Martin Patience and his team on any BBC
Persia channels.
As
reported by the Huffington Post, the email stated: “It is absolutely imperative
that none of their material is run on BBC Persian TV, Radio or Online now or in
the future. That includes any official BBC Persian social feed retweeting or
forwarding the coverage.”
“Please
do not use the material and stories produced in Iran on any platform or in any
format,” it continued.
Despite
revealing the internal memo, it has not been confirmed who at the BBC agreed to
those supposed terms.
The
alleged agreement follows after Patience entered the country last week, with
the correspondent tweeting that they were given “rare access” but also said
that there were “some restrictions on our movements.”
In
another email obtained by Huffington Post which was sent last February, it
stated that one BBC Arabic correspondent was only allowed to cover the
anniversary of the Iranian Revolution “on the condition that his pictures will
be ‘no access Persia BBC’.”
Such
was the displeasure of the alleged decision by the BBC that some staff members
have spoken to the Huffington Post and have criticized the media organization.
One
staff member reportedly said: “No part of the BBC should allow itself to become
an accomplice to the Iranian government’s effort to isolate and punish us.”
The
BBC and the Iranian regime have previously clashed, and in 2017, the assets of
152 current and former BBC Persia staff were frozen.
As
a result, the BBC filed a complaint with the UN stating that it was a campaign
against “fundamental human rights.”
In
a statement regarding the apparent agreement with Iran, the BBC said: “All international media are subject to reporting restrictions in Iran.”
“We
accepted some limitations on this occasion in order to provide our audiences
with rare insights from inside the country and this is signposted in our
coverage,” it added.
“As
ever, the BBC maintains full editorial control over what we broadcast. These
reports – our first from inside Iran in 5 years – do not change our unwavering
commitment to our BBC Persian staff and their families, who have suffered
completely unacceptable harassment from the Iranian authorities since 2009,” it
asserted.