Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Satirical American comedy takes Iran by storm

Since the programme 'Parazit' began broadcasting in 2010, it has seen increasing levels of support from its satirical subject of the Iranian people.

Presented by two native emigrants of Iran, the show is now in its third season with approximately 750,000 Facebook followers. The title refers to the static state of government affairs in the country. It has been widely discredited by Iranian officials who claim the show, produced by the US state owned Voice of America TV station, is another branch of CIA propaganda whose aim is to wage soft cultural war on the Iranian population. And, although the apparent consensus in Iranian civil society agrees with the idea that it is a tool of propaganda, it seems to be hugely irrelevant to its growing online viewer ratings.

In retaliation to the flourishing project, the Iranian government have launched their own attempt at comedic satire in the form of "Just For Your Information" which, to date, has only gained small viewing numbers.

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