Research and Polling Center of I.R.I.B Communication Research 2538-2977 31 120 2025 07 23 Highlighting Iran's Social Gaps In Foreign Persian-Language Media (Case: BBC Persian In September -October 2023 Protests Highlighting Iran's Social Gaps In Foreign Persian-Language Media (Case: BBC Persian In September -October 2023 Protests 9 47 726010 10.22082/cr.2025.2044379.2749 FA Sajad ImaniPour Ph.D Student in Culture & Commuincation, Faculty of Art, Media and Cyberspace, Imam Hussain University, Tehran, Iran 0009-0002-9407-8433 Journal Article 2024 11 11 Abstract Media has been considered one of the most influential intellectual authorities of public opinion in contemporary societies. The protests of 2023 due to the suspicious death of Mahsa Amini provided a suitable pretext for providing content in line with the media goals of Persian-language channels in order to influence public opinion. A brief review of the content produced by foreign Persian-language networks has shown that these media focus on Iran’s social gaps and exacerbate them. In order to clarify the path of these channels in highlighting Iran’s social gaps, the BBC Persian news channel was selected. Since access to social networks is easier and more public than satellite channels, the page of this news network on the Instagram social network was examined. The data collection method in this study was theme analysis, and its sample was selected in accordance with 4 time periods related to the turning points of the protests, and a total of 141 posts. The selected posts were qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis method, and 410 primary descriptive themes, 36 secondary descriptive themes, 10 interpretive themes, and 5 comprehensive themes were extracted. The themes of interest in this media were: the confrontation between people and government, the inefficiency of the government and the incompetence of officials, the deprivation and oppression of women in Iran, and normalizing the no hijab in Iranian society, which in the theoretical literature of the research are mainly classified under the political gap (state-nation). Abstract Media has been considered one of the most influential intellectual authorities of public opinion in contemporary societies. The protests of 2023 due to the suspicious death of Mahsa Amini provided a suitable pretext for providing content in line with the media goals of Persian-language channels in order to influence public opinion. A brief review of the content produced by foreign Persian-language networks has shown that these media focus on Iran’s social gaps and exacerbate them. In order to clarify the path of these channels in highlighting Iran’s social gaps, the BBC Persian news channel was selected. Since access to social networks is easier and more public than satellite channels, the page of this news network on the Instagram social network was examined. The data collection method in this study was theme analysis, and its sample was selected in accordance with 4 time periods related to the turning points of the protests, and a total of 141 posts. The selected posts were qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis method, and 410 primary descriptive themes, 36 secondary descriptive themes, 10 interpretive themes, and 5 comprehensive themes were extracted. The themes of interest in this media were: the confrontation between people and government, the inefficiency of the government and the incompetence of officials, the deprivation and oppression of women in Iran, and normalizing the no hijab in Iranian society, which in the theoretical literature of the research are mainly classified under the political gap (state-nation).

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