The Controversial Comment About Peyman Jebali
If Hashemi’s revelation about IRIB’s election bias raised eyebrows, her claim regarding Peyman Jebali, the head of IRIB, raised alarms. In a particularly controversial part of her interview, she recounted a statement allegedly made by Jebali:
“Peyman Jebali, the head of IRIB, said in a meeting that in my view, people are only those who attended the funeral of Hajj Qassem Soleimani.”
This sentence, if accurate, exposes a troubling worldview—one that equates “the people” only with those who conform to a specific political or ideological identity. For a public broadcaster whose mandate is to serve the entire nation, such a statement undermines the inclusive notion of citizenship.
Hashemi’s disclosure thus touches on two interconnected issues: the politicization of media leadership and the exclusionary definition of “the people” that often shapes Iranian state discourse. For many observers, her account provided a rare insider’s confirmation of what has long been perceived: that IRIB functions not as a neutral media institution but as an instrument of political legitimacy for the ruling elite.
