Young Journalists Club
Iranian state media outlet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Young Journalists Club (YJC) (Persian: باشگاه خبرنگاران جوان) is an Iranian news agency affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) state broadcaster.[2]
| |
| Type | News agency |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Tehran , Iran[1] |
Key people | Mohammad Saleh Meftah (president) |
| Website | yjc |
History and management
Young Journalists Club was founded in 1999 and operates in all provinces of Iran under IRIB's political bureau.[3] The outlet trains journalists and functions as an incubator for IRIB television and radio.[1][4] Young Journalists Club's president has in recent years been appointed by IRIB's deputy political director;[5] the current president is Mohammad Saleh Meftah, who was appointed in October 2024.[6] As of 2021, the outlet's managers had ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[7]
In 2022, it was reported that Young Journalists Club would be dissolved and merged into other IRIB departments,[8][9] however this did not occur, with Young Journalists Club stating the claim was based on a misconception of its standing within IRIB.[10]
Content
Young Journalists Club has been involved in producing and airing forced confessions, as well as content for domestic security services.[11] In 2012, Human Rights Watch criticized the outlet for publishing personal attacks against BBC Persian employees.[12] In 2019, it along with some other Iranian news agencies was suspended from Twitter due to alleged coordinated harassment of Baha'i practitioners; Young Journalists Club blamed the British government for supposedly pressuring Twitter over their reporting of Iran seizing a British-flagged tanker.[13]
In 2018, it was among the top five most popular news sites in Iran according to Alexa rankings.[14]