Iran’s ‘soft power’ media machine is losing its charm 

The Iranian media has relentlessly exploited regional conflicts to portray Tehran as the biggest supporter of 'ideals and values', especially in its support for the Palestinian cause.  

Iran's media machine is not solely limited to television channels, it also includes electronic and print media.

Most, if not all, Iranian official or semi-official media outlets are keen to broadcast their content in several languages in a united effort to bolster Tehran's regional foreign policy and approach by expressing its views on issues in the Arab world. 

Since the early 2000s, Tehran has provided additional financial aid and privileges to local news agencies who launch Arabic versions to influence Arab public opinion. 

Regime mouthpieces 

In terms of internal media, conservative newspapers affiliated with the regime — especially those directly sponsored by the Iranian Supreme Leader's office, such as Kaihan, Ettela'at, and Jumhuri Islami, and official newspapers affiliated with other government institutions — shoulder the responsibility of directing local public opinion in various fields.  

This includes communicating the regime's official views on issues related to both domestic and foreign policies. 

It is remarkable, though, that all these newspapers continuously cover Arab issues and events through their selective points of view. A few of them even publish Arabic versions. 

Through analysing reformist newspapers and reports, we can see that their content aligns with the regime's discourse and regional policies pertaining to the Arab world. They can even be "more candid," albeit less severe, in expression than the conservative camp's media. 

Despite the newspapers' lack of interest in communicating with the Arab public, the Iranian government took the initiative to launch networks for this audience in addition to publishing content on the internet.  

Multiple languages 

The Iranian media has gained a lot of experience in utilising "soft power" models at the regional level. These media publish their content in different languages, albeit in low quality.  

This interest began with the news channel Al-Alam (The World), which premiered in 2003. Next, the iFilm network was launched, focusing on dubbing Iranian series and films. In 2007, Press TV, an English-language news channel, was established, and in 2012, Hispan, a Spanish-language channel, was launched. 

The Sahar satellite channels network was the oldest project launched in November 1997 in seven languages. This was before Tehran began to focus on channels targeting the Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Pakistani, and Afghan regions, in addition to the countries surrounding the Balkans. 

Many religious and sectarian networks promoting the vision of the Velayat-e Faqih regime in Iran have been placed on different satellites with different sponsors, ranging from the government to businessmen to everyday people.  

All these efforts were carried out within the framework of the need to deal with the external world, especially in reporting news and events from an Iranian perspective. 

Most of these networks carry names with religious connotations that are in line with the regime's mantra — even Iranian weapons are given similar names.  

History hijacked 

Historical dramas also reflect Tehran's ideology, dubbed into Arabic, on the Al-Kawthar, Al-Furat, and the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV channels. 

Dramas are becoming a modern tool of influence, and "iFilm" has produced 250 films and series dubbed in Arabic — most of which are themed along religious and historical storylines. 

Is this "soft power" weapon still effective? It's safe to say that Iranian media is hemorrhaging due to a decline in the quality of programmes, increasing censorship, and the growing influence of extremists. 

In addition to this deterioration, there has been a rise in competition in content production. The Arab public has also become more aware of the Iranian media machine and has begun to impose more restrictions on such networks.