Iranian journalists have come together in a festival, dubbed Hope Media Cup, in Tehran in a bid to showcase their skills in confronting the cognitive warfare waged by the enemies against the Islamic Republic.
The First National Hope Media Cup which started today at the Comprehensive University of Islamic Revolution in the capital city will run for two days.
The national festival is to serve as a platform where reporters and photojournalists will cover the news stories and developments taking place within 36 hours in the country.
The participants are to produce pieces of news in varied categories of headlines, op-eds, editorials, reports, photos, podcasts, mobile clips, posters, infographics, and idea generation.
Closing ceremony of the First National Hope Media Cup
Jihad of service, Jihad of clarification, and Jihad of hope are to be focused on the media contest.
The enemy’s main plan is to use false publicity, or propaganda, as they call it. The way to overcome propaganda is with “clarification.” Clarifying the truth [must be done] by different people, with different voices, with different interpretations, and using new forms, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said.
“Jihad of clarification must be taken seriously, by everyone, in the seminaries, in the universities, and in particular on radio and television, in the printed media, in all the places where you are, all around you.”
In the face of the foes’ scheme, Ayatollah Khamenei considers it to be the duty of the elite to engage in the jihad of clarification and to nullify the doubts and uncertainties created by the ill-wishers
Attending the ceremony, the spokesman of Iran’s Government Ali Bahadori Jahromi called for creating hope in society as it is key to confronting cognitive warfare.
Media terrorism has inflicted heavy losses on the fighters of Jihad of Clarification, he underscored.
After the Iraqi imposed war against the Islamic Republic (1980-88), the military war finished, but the cognitive war, knowledge-related war, economic war, political war, and security war have increased every day, up until this very day, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said in August 2023.
Let us take the significance of cognitive warfare into account which has made all high-ranking officials make comments in this regard.
As written by Waltzman (2022), quoting from Bernal et al., “cognitive warfare can be functionally defined as ‘the weaponization of public opinion, by an external entity, for the purpose of (1) influencing public and governmental policy and ( 2) destabilizing public institutions.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kan’ani says “The West’s ongoing cognitive and hybrid warfare against Iran is the continuation of their military, economic, political, and psychological campaign, and it is doomed to failure just like the past.”
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, believes “We live in a time when the enemy has come to fight the Iranian people with a cognitive war. The Jihad of Clarification lies at the center of neutralizing this agenda. And journalists are the main fighters in this complicated war.”
In similar remarks, a top military commander Major General Mohammad Bagheri says enemies of Iran have decided to engage in cognitive and media warfare against the country after they failed in their plots to directly confront the nation.
The Commander of the Army Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran says that the Iranian nation will foil the plots designed by the enemy in a soft war that has been waged against the Islamic Republic.
Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi adds the enemy is seeking cognitive warfare against the Islamic Republic to disappoint the Iranians with their government.
News agencies and websites play a crucial role in offering accurate and timely information, along with documented analysis, to educate the public about the objectives and tactics of cognitive warfare and to combat Western propaganda against Iran.
Reported by Tohid Mahmoudpour
