Mehr News Agency

The Mehr News Agency (MNA; Persian: خبرگزاری مهر, romanized: Xabâr-gozâri Mehr) is a semi-official news agency of the Iranian government.[1] It is headquartered in Tehran, and is owned by the Iranian government's Islamic Development Organization (IIDO).

Mehr News Agency
Type of site
Broadcast newspaper online and mobile
Available inArabic, English, Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Urdu
Founded22 June 2003 (2003-06-22)
HeadquartersTehran,
Iran
Area servedWorldwide
OwnerIslamic Development Organization
CEOMohammad Mahdi Rahmati (since April 2023)
Mohammad shojaeian (from September 2019 to April 2023)
Ali Asgari (from April 2014 to September 2019)
Reza Moghadasi (from October 2010 to April 2014)
Parviz Esmaeili (from July 2003 to October 2010)
IndustryNews agency
URLMehr News Agency
Mehr News Agency English Edition

History and profile

Established on 22 June 2003,[2] MNA is the most multilingual (transmitting news and photos in six languages) news agency in the Islamic Republic of Iran and its first CEO and Director General was Parviz Esmaeili and its current CEO and Director General is Mohammad Shojaeian (since September 2019).[3]

MNA includes coverage in the following areas:

  • Art (cinema, theater, music, visual arts)
  • Culture and literature (poetry, stories, books)
  • Religion and thought
  • Seminary and university
  • Modern Technology
  • Social
  • Economy
  • Political
  • International
  • Sports
  • Magazines
  • Photos
  • Provinces

MNA has five regional centers inside the country—northern, southern, central, eastern, and western Iran.

It has also stringers and correspondents in Europe, South America, Turkey, East Asia, and some Persian Gulf littoral states and CIS countries for the time–being and is extending them across the world.

It transmits news and photos in six languages of Persian, English, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and Kurdish.

Employing more than 300 reporters and photographers dispatched in 30 provinces of the country, MNA provides the widest news coverage in Iran.

International cooperation

The news agency was accepted as the 40th member of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA)[4] at the 13th General Assembly[5] held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2007. The agency was the host agency of the OANA[6] 31st Executive Board Meeting (EBM) and the 25th Editorial-Technical Experts Group (ETEG) Meeting in 2009.[7] It had also actively participated in two international summits – the 2009 World Media Summit[8][9] in Beijing, China, and the 2010 OANA Summit Congress[10] in Seoul, South Korea.

The agency was also a special guest of the III News Agencies’ World Congress (NAWC)[11] in Argentina from 19 to 23 October 2010.

MNA also actively participated in the Istanbul OANA General Assembly [12] in November 2010 and the OANA 26th ETEG - 32nd EBM meetings[13] in Ulan Bator in June 2011.

According to the OANA[6] Secretary's report to the Istanbul Assembly, MNA, which has become OANA[6] member since 2007, ranked second among the OANA[6] member agencies in number of news and photos published on the organization's website. MNA initiated the OANA[6] flag,[14] and the 50-year-old OANA[6] adopted the flag.

MNA has so far signed contracts with more than 20 foreign news agencies including the Japanese Kyodo News Agency, the Spanish EFE, the Chinese Xinhua, Cuba's official Prensa Latina (PL), the Press Trust of India (PTI), Korea's YONHAP, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), the Turkish Cihan News Agency and Turkish Weekly, Georgia's PVNA, Zimbabwe's New Ziana, Romania's AGERPRES, Malaysia's BERNAMA, Indonesia's ANTARA, the Azerbaijani Trend News Agency, Mongolia's MONTSAME, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the Philippines News Agency (PNA) and Russian Sputnik news Agency.

Criticism

In 2006, Mehr News Agency was described by the Anti-Defamation League as a "megaphone for notorious Holocaust deniers" because it had published interviews with Arthur Butz, Michael A. Hoffman II, Fredrick Toben, Paul Fromm, Mark Weber and Robert Faurisson.[15][16]

See also

References
  1. Alimagham, Pouya (2020). Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1108475440.
  2. "Media Environment Guide: Iran" (PDF). BBC Monitoring. 30 July 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  3. "Tehran Times new managing director introduced". Tehran Times. September 24, 2019.
  4. "Oana News". Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  5. "Oana News". Oana News. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  6. Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies
  7. "The 31st OANA Executive Board Meeting". Oana News. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  8. "WMS opens at Great Hall of the People in Beijing". Xinhuanet. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original on October 18, 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2011-11-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Yonhap News" (in Korean). 24 April 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  11. "III News Agencies World Congress". Nawc. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  12. "Anadolu Ajans". AA. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  13. "Oana News". Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  14. Archived October 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-12-27. Retrieved 2019-02-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Peine avec sursis pour Faurisson". Libération. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2010.

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