News agencies
The main and oldest news agency is the Islamic Iranian News Agency (IRNA), funded and controlled by the government through the ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. It was founded in 1934 as Pars News Agency, and changed its name after the revolution of 1979. It has 60 bureaus in Iran and 30 abroad and publishes two newspapers: Iran, in Farsi, and Iran Daily, in English. It has services in Farsi, English, Arabic, Turkish, French, Spanish, Russian and Urdu. It follows the line of the government.
Fars news agency, founded in 2003, is a semi-official agency considered close to the Revolutionary Guards, like Tasnim, founded in 2012. Fars has services in Farsi, English, Arabic and Turkish. Tasnim writes news and articles in Farsi and English. Mehr news agency, launched in 2003, available in Farsi, English, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu, is owned by the Islamic Propagation Organisation, like the English-language newspaper Tehran Times. The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), is run by university students. Established in 1999, it is considered to be more independent and moderate than IRNA. It offers its production in Farsi, English, French and Arabic. The Islamic Labour News Agency (ILNA) was founded in 2003 and belongs to the Workers’ House, a labour union controlled by the government. It is considered close to the reform movement and can be read in Farsi, English and Arabic. Tabnak is a news agency belonging to Mohsen Rezai, a moderate conservative, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, candidate to the presidential elections in 2005, 2009 and 2013 and now secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, an institutional body that mediates on possible disagreements between the Parliament and the Guardian Council about laws to be approved. Tabnak writes in Farsi and Arabic.