The london-based TV channel called Iran International recently launched a new program it has named “Meidaan.” The first episode of the show was an interview with the eldest son of the deposed Shah of Iran. Iran International TV’s new program has not only used Meidaan website’s name but has also appropriated its logo and slogan. The name, logo, and slogan of Iran International’s new show is so similar to the name, logo, and slogan of Meidaan website that some of our audience might not know which meidaan they are joining.
Meidaan is the name of an analytical website based in Tehran, which has been managed on a voluntary basis for more than four years. It seeks to bring attention to important issues that mainstream media in Farsi, both inside Iran and elsewhere, usually ignore or push to the margins.
Iran International TV, funded in the billions by a Saudi Arabian citizen, has copied the name of Meidaan.
Meidaan’s logo has been copied with minor altercations in its font and the direction of the last symbol.
In all its years of presence on the web, Meidaan website has asked its audience to join them by the slogan “step into the square.” Iran International TV has used the exact same wording in promoting the show for its viewers.
Meidaan has consistently emphasized on the free and unrestricted access of content for all. However, what Iran International has committed in copying Meidaan’s name, logo, and slogan is utterly unacceptable to us.
It is evident that Meidaan as an independent media platform has no connection with Iran International TV and the new program, “Meidaan.”
Mainstream media with untransparent budgets in the billions have constantly sought to eliminate independent voices, distort them or appropriate them for their own benefits. For more than four years, we have, in Meidaan, strived for building an independent and critical voice. Regardless of whether or not Iran International’s act was deliberate or accidental, we will not allow our independent voice to be distorted.
