The Security of Media and the Transformation of Journalists into Arms of Corrupt Managers in Iran

The media environment in Iran over the past years, especially since the second term of President Hassan Rouhani, has increasingly come under the influence of a security perspective; a trend that has not only limited freedom of information but also paved the way for the spread of corruption, secrecy, and the elimination of independent journalists. 

In such an environment, journalists who investigate mismanagement, cronyism, illegal hiring, problematic privatizations, and corruption in large organizations and companies face pressure from various supervisory, security, and judicial bodies instead of receiving legal support. In many cases, influential managers or vested interest networks use their connections to try to prevent critical journalists from continuing their work. 

The consequences of these pressures are not limited to the removal of a report or the suspension of a media outlet. The formation of legal cases, repeated summons, threats, arrests, imprisonment, deprivation of professional activity, and ultimately forced exile are among the costs that independent Iranian journalists have paid in recent years. 

However, the securitization of media is not the only crisis in this field. Another significant problem is the transformation of a considerable number of media outlets, especially those active in the oil, gas, petrochemical, steel, and other large industries, into unofficial public relations arms of managers and organizations. 

These media outlets, in some cases, instead of independently reviewing the performance of managers, play a role in publishing and promoting one-sided or unverifiable statistics, concealing inefficiencies, and highlighting alleged achievements. Sometimes they also use media capacity for political and economic networking, exerting pressure on ministers, holding company managers, and board members, and influencing appointments, manager transfers, and contract awards. 

In these conditions, the line between journalism, organizational advertising, and economic brokerage has become severely blurred. Some specialized media, instead of representing public opinion and demanding transparency, have become tools for bargaining over advertising budgets, public relations contracts, and managerial interests. This situation has reduced public trust in the media and made it difficult for society to access a real picture of the conditions of Iran's strategic industries. 

Independent media and journalists who operate outside this structure are not immune to pressures. Publishing reports on corruption or mismanagement, especially by media outside the country or journalists active on social networks, often leads to a wave of accusations, character assassination, organized reports, legal complaints, and attempts to remove their accounts. 

As a journalist who has worked for years in the field of energy and economic corruption, I have also been exposed to such pressures. Publishing reports and critical comments about the performance of some managers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries has repeatedly been met with coordinated attacks, false claims, attempts to remove content, and restrictions on my media pages. 

The goal of these attacks is not merely to respond to a report; it is to create costs for continuing independent journalism and to send a warning message to other journalists who might investigate networks of power and wealth. 

To truly understand the situation of the oil, gas, petrochemical, and steel industries in Iran, it is not enough to only review official statistics. The media structure surrounding these industries, the financial sources of the media, their connections with managers and holding companies, and the way they deal with independent journalists must also be examined. 

What is observed today in a significant part of Iran's media environment is not a free and accountable system, but a collection of dependent or influenced news streams that directly or indirectly serve executive bodies, quasi-governmental institutions, large companies, and political and economic networks. 

In such conditions, defending independent journalism is not only a defense of freedom of expression; it is an essential part of the fight against corruption and the demand for transparency in Iran's economy.