Text of report by Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) website
Tehran, 4 October: The Voice and Vision’s deputy head for external services has announced that an English news channel is to be launched in the coming months.
Speaking to a reporter from the television affairs section of the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Mohammad Sarafraz said: The English news channel, called “Press” [previous word in English] will be broadcasting on a 24-hour basis from the start.
He said that the channel’s chosen presenters were highly skilled and added: According to their experienced trainer, who is from the BBC, some of the Iranian trainees are even better than CNN and BBC presenters.
The Voice and Vision’s deputy head for external services said that “a different perspective on the region’s issues” was among the aims behind the establishment of the news channel.
He also said: The channel’s technical facilities, in terms of studios, cameras and equipment, and its human resources will be of the highest quality.
Finally, Sarafraz said that some of the considerations that had gone into choosing the channels name were: “being short and newsy”, “being easy to pronounce” and “not having been used before”.
(Source: ISNA website, Tehran, in Persian 0820 gmt 4 Oct 06 via BBC Monitoring/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)