Statements of the Supreme Leader in Meeting with Broadcasting Officials

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Firstly, we welcome our dear brothers and hope that, God willing, God will assist you. Both in guiding you to what pleases Him—since your work is very sensitive—and in execution; so that you can truly implement what you understand, see, and decide. Sometimes a person identifies an issue and makes the right decision about it. However, in the execution phase, due to obstacles and problems that arise, they are unable to act on it. Today, my main point with you gentlemen is to thank all of you. Truly, the essence of the matter is this! Because we saw that many of you brothers in broadcasting worked very hard at the end of last year on various issues, especially around the days of the Ten-Day Dawn, Quds Day, the month of Ramadan, and the election issue. Truly, both the sound and the visuals, and the various sections of the broadcasting networks, endured hardships in these matters.

Of course, some very good work is also being done in broadcasting, which also deserves thanks. Naturally, Mr. Larijani's report—what he wrote and said—includes the positive points of the topics that exist in our minds, and all of these truly and justly require a proper and sincere 'well done' face-to-face, which we have expressed. Thanks be to God, an opportunity arose to thank the gentlemen in person and wish them success. Some of the broadcasting programs are truly interesting, intelligent, and completely devoid of any blemish. Sometimes our programs may be very good; but one might see a blemish in a corner of them and regret why so much effort was put in and so many hands worked hard to produce a film or series, only for a very bad blemish to appear somewhere in the work. Truly, the only name that can be put on such corners of the work is blemish and nothing else. A vigilance was needed to prevent this flaw from arising; but attention was not paid.

Some of the broadcasting programs are completely dignified and solid, at a high level, and completely devoid of blemish. Of course, some of these programs that I see or hear, I immediately instruct the office officials to contact broadcasting and say that the programs were good and we benefited. After all, we ourselves are also from the pulpit. In those days when we used to preach, after coming down from the pulpit and finishing the speech, we did not mind if someone said: 'Sir; may God bless your breath!' Sometimes a preacher would speak for an hour, but no one would bother to say a simple 'may God bless you!' Therefore, because we understand that 'may God bless you' is very effective, we wanted to say 'may God bless you' to the gentlemen.

In any case, the point I want to mention is the existence of 'very good', sometimes 'good', and sometimes 'very good' programs in broadcasting. I hear and observe such programs as much as time allows, both on the radio and on television. Of course, these programs are separate from the two or three massive works that you gentlemen did in the field of elections and marches. Well, those were separate and independent works. In the field of regular and ongoing broadcasting work, what we want to express is admiration and thanks for the good programs that exist.

I do not want to say two things: one is that I do not want to say there are no flaws and defects in broadcasting. Yes, indeed, there are many flawed programs, some of which I reminded Mr. Larijani of before these remarks. There are truly flawed programs in broadcasting that need to be corrected; and I am pleased that the number of flawed ones is decreasing day by day. Thanks be to God, a trend towards improvement in the programs is felt. Nevertheless, some flaws remain in place.

The second thing I do not want to say is that there is ultimate goodness in the programs. Truly, even in those good programs, better work can be done. Humanity is an infinite being with no limits. No matter how high you think, the progress of the works created by your humanity is not the ultimate height; meaning it is not the highest that has no higher. Ultimately, there is something higher than that, which must be sought; and thus, humanity moves in an infinite journey. Truly, the being that God Almighty has created is amazing. Anything that is assumed today to have nothing better, certainly has something higher and better, and it must be sought and pursued. In this path, one should never stop working and moving.

As for technical matters, the subject I find appropriate to recommend at the moment is that you should ensure that the radio's sound reaches everywhere in the country comfortably. This possibility does not exist now, and you must provide it, so that later you can access better and more comprehensive facilities. This is like a person currently providing bread and cheese until they later access more nutritious and better foods, with their accompaniments. In terms of radio sound, this is the primary issue. Of course, in the past, the coverage of sound was less than this. Perhaps it was not even one-tenth of the current coverage. But now that it has expanded so much and you have done a lot of technical work—as you said and reported, and it certainly is so—still, your sound does not reach everywhere in the country, even to places that are not very remote or behind mountains. What I am saying is based on personal experience. In our country, there are areas where your sound is difficult to receive. In other words, the sound of an anti-revolutionary radio can be found very easily; while the distance of that radio is much greater than your distance from the areas we are referring to! Even now, when we leave Tehran, in the twists and turns of the surrounding mountains, unfortunately, we do not have your sound. With the ordinary radios available to us, it cannot be received. Perhaps there are better radios that can be used to hear the sound. But in any case, such a problem exists that you must solve. You must fix this.

Addressing the overseas and foreign broadcasting is also an important program. Of course, now that we are facing the problem of receiving our own radio sound here, in Europe and Africa, people hear our sound and the sound of our Friday prayers through our overseas radio. This also exists. But we want to say that the domestic range of Iran has priority. It should be ensured that anyone who wants to hear your sound anywhere can do so. That is, they should not be forced to listen to another radio because they cannot hear your sound and say 'now that we want to listen to our own radio, its sound quality is like this.' At least there should be an option and choice for them. This is also in terms of technical matters.

Of course, we have many things to say to the members of broadcasting; that is, there are more fundamental and basic things that are suitable for your gathering. God willing, in the not too distant future, we will have a good meeting with you and the other brothers and sisters active in broadcasting, and if God Almighty grants life and success, we will talk. Now is not the time for that work; therefore, we do not address those discussions. Just one thing—although we have said it before—we will say again and finish our talk. That point is that in Iranian films and Persian plays broadcast on the radio, pay attention to one point; even if it takes three years to experience it. The point that no one has paid attention to so far is to empty Iranian films and plays of disturbing and mind-provoking incidents and abrasive states for the soul. Unfortunately, this is not done, and I do not know why! Although I have repeatedly told both the members of broadcasting and the brothers involved in filmmaking, I do not know why this important issue is not observed. Is there a flaw or defect here that this work is not done? When you watch an Iranian film, it seems that there must be an exaggeration in expressing sorrow, expressing discomfort, expressing crying, fighting, and nervous tension! As if without these elements, the Iranian film and play lack something! Once, in front of an audience like you gentlemen, I gave an example. I said, for instance, suppose they made a program on our television and wanted to encourage children to brush. We also, as usual, watched the children's film. Of course, in the form of a cartoon, making such films for children is a good encouragement and a good advertisement for observing hair hygiene. The story was that a doll brush was crying and weeping for moments; in such a way that it would break one's heart. In this state, another brush would say to the crying brush: 'Why are you crying?' It would answer, for example, 'My owner does not brush his hair!' This issue did not warrant so much crying; to the extent that it would break the listener's heart! At least make the voice of the crying girl or boy on the brush a moment, not for a minute and a minute and a half! Just continuous crying, crying, crying! Well, it shatters the listener's nerves! Unfortunately, such states exist in our films, cartoons, and plays.

Another topic addressed in our films is the phenomenon of divorce; and the crying and lamentations in this category are also distressing. Well, when one watches foreign films, including Japanese family films—which are good Japanese films—one sees that in connection with family issues, there are such talks there too. But this much crying and discomfort do not prevail in the films. I do not know why our films should be like this! Surely there is a flaw in the work.

Of course, because I have suspicions about some places and some people that are slow to dissipate, I say there must be a deliberate intention to ruin people's minds and nerves. Well, you are sitting in your house. If the neighbor's child starts crying, your nerves get disturbed. This is a natural matter. It does not have to be one's own child. Television is also like the neighbor's child. It ruins a person's nerves with unnecessary crying, tension, and fighting. Come and truly plan. Both in the radio works and the night stories and its other programs, and in the television works. This is a fundamental work. This is preserving the mental health of the people. Disturbed nerves will show themselves in the workplace, in the place of business, on the street, and in traffic. This issue that we once mentioned and now Mr. Larijani repeated, the issue of calming people's minds, a major part of it is related to broadcasting and films and plays that have not yet been provided. Of course, some relatively humorous films with elements of humor have somewhat spread, which is not a problem. It is good that these works are done.

We hope that God will help you and you can carry out this very, very great task that you have in the best possible way. Of course, in the best possible way, otherwise the best way is very high. God willing, you can fulfill your mission; and this mission is also the mission of a nation; it is a cultural mission. You are truly alone. Even now, the press is behind broadcasting. In our country, the press, which should be equal to broadcasting, unfortunately, has fallen behind. We do not see the progress and movement that exists in broadcasting in our own press. You must also compensate for their void to a large extent. God willing, God will grant success to all of you.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.