Iranian Film Critics Discuss MEMRI TV

Following are excerpts from an Iranian Channel 4 TV show, featuring Iranian film critics discussing MEMRI TV. The show was posted on the Internet on August 3, 2013.

Iranian film critic Dr. Majid Shah-Hosseini: People sometimes pronounce it "Memory" by mistake, but it is, in fact, an abbreviation of Middle East Monitoring of Radio and TV Institute [sic]. It monitors all the Middle East TV and Radio channels around the clock.

Interestingly, they have a list of so-called "crimes," such as Holocaust denial, antisemitism, and anti-Americanism. There are 17 different "crimes" on their home page, and if you commit any of these so-called "crimes" on any Middle Eastern TV or radio station, they document that "crime" by recording the clip and posting it on their website.

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For the past 15 years, they have been monitoring all the many radio and TV stations in the Middle East. They monitor the programs, in order to show the people that [the channel] has committed a crime. For example, the MEMRI TV logo appears on children's shows, when these programs say something against [the Jews], as well as on programs with Middle East experts, with Muslims...

Iranian filmmaker and TV host Nader Talebzadeh: They monitor networks like Press TV...

Majid Shah-Hosseini: Yes. They even monitor serious programs on Iran with local and foreign experts. Whenever these people speak, [MEMRI] considers it to be a conspiracy. It is important for us to understand why. Let's watch a playback of some MEMRI TV clips, and I will explain what they consider to be a conspiracy.

Nader Talebzadeh: Let's watch a clip of one of the greatest conspirators... you. Number 15 on the list is Dr. Shah-Hosseini. We have a few clips. Let's watch one of them.

Majid Shah-Hosseini: The viewers will be able to witness my "crimes"...

Excerpt from MEMRI clip #1330 from September 3, 2006, in which Majid Shah-Hosseini is lecturing to Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Since then, these monsters have assumed the form of humans. The 1990's are full of movies in which these monsters have become humans, called "extremist Muslim terrorists." They reach American soil with very dangerous weapons, and use nuclear bombs to threaten the very foundations of American society. Now, the rules of the game have changed. Now, American public opinion has found a human substitute for that vague, inexplicable danger, which had been injected into its mind for an entire decade. In many films, like True Lies, Executive Decision, Delta Force, and the well-known film Siege by Edward Zwick, we see this type of human monsters – Muslim terrorists, some of whom are Shiites, who reach American soil and want to entirely destroy this community with suicide operations.

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Back to studio discussion

Look at how accurately they took what I said and turned it into captions. Our viewers can see the MEMRI TV logo at the top. They took a simple critique of a movie, which had nothing to do with the Zionists. They considered the critique dangerous and included it in their list of "crimes."

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Nader Talebzadeh: I don't think any of our ministers have heard of MEMRI TV. Many [Iranians] working in the media, have not heard of it either, even though it tries to arouse fear among its viewers, as well as among the future presidents and ministers on the other side, and among people dong searches on the Internet.

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In our media we should always introduce the enemy. This is not complicated. Introducing MEMRI TV is not very complicated. Not doing so is bad. If you don't know what the enemy is doing...

Majid Shah-Hosseini: They are even afraid of our children's programs and our animated films. They consider them to be a crime.

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