BBC and CNN propaganda on the Iran nuclear crisis after the US violated the JCPOA (May 2018 to December 2024)

Subject Areas : Iranian Political Research

Mohammad Moghadam far ¹ , Hasan Eyvazzadeh ^{2 *} , Malek Zolghadr ³

1 -
2 - Islamic Azad University, Zanjan Branch
3 - Islamic Azad University, Zanjan branch

Received: 2025-02-01 Accepted : 2025-02-24 Published : 2025-01-28

Keywords: Iran, America, violation of the JCPOA, nuclear crisis, region, BBC and CNN,

Abstract :

For decades, media propaganda has been used as a powerful tool to shape public opinion and influence global policies, significantly influencing decision-making. News narratives and reports target the general public and are sometimes inaccurate. This article examines the propaganda of these two media outlets during the Iranian nuclear crisis after the United States violated the JCPOA (May 2018 to December 2024) using content analysis and citations of CNN and BBC news extracted from their websites. Of the total of 1,276 selected news items, reports, interviews, and news analyses related to Iran’s nuclear program during the aforementioned period, from the websites of these media outlets, citations to CNN were 529 (41.5%) and to BBC were 747 (58.5%). 100% of the evidence was extracted directly from the websites of these two media outlets, which indicates the authenticity and first-hand nature of the sources and provides new information on various topics and events related to Iran's nuclear program. The article focuses on these two questions: 1) What role did BBC and CNN play in reflecting a true picture of the Iranian nuclear issue after the violation of the JCPOA and in what framework did they play their role? and 2) What were the similarities and differences in their roles in reflecting the issue?; It seeks to analyze these hypotheses that 1) the aforementioned media outlets played a decisive role in guiding policymakers' decisions regarding the Iranian nuclear issue and 2) they had a different approach to the issue based on their dominant ideologies. This means that BBC, which tries to convince its audience and convey its hidden goals in a specific direction with a biased, purposeful and indirect view; In contrast, CNN takes a frank, transparent, and unbiased view of the issue, presenting its objective directly, somewhat in line with reality, and with more or less convincing arguments.

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