Rafsanjani to buy some positive publicity

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has apparently started a big media campaign by hiring dozens of journalists and donating a lot of money to newspapers, websites, and other media organizations in order to influence the public before he officially enters the upcoming presidential race.

First some Persian weblogs, written by Tehran-based journalists, published about the rumors. Later Gooya News published a letter in which the writer had public ally named some journalists who have been hired by a 'think-tank' who is said to be run by Mehdi, the middle son of Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Among the most popular rumors -- which is almost a fact now -- is that Shargh Newspaper which is run by Mohammad Atrianfar, a close ally of Rafsanjani during his eight-year term in the 90s, has the mission of convincing the educated, middle-class population in large cities, especially Tehran, that Rafsanjani is the best choice.

In fact, it has already started its campaign by providing an increasing space to news and views about Rafsanjani and the possibility of another term. The latest evidence is the thick special section -- traditionally published before the new Persian year, Norooz -- which has a picture of Rafsanjani's back, walking towards two golden chairs, on the cover, accompanied by a rather long interview with him, who is titled by Shargh the person of the year.

Among the websites, thought to be supporting him, are Aftab News, and the recently launched ISCA.

All this has developed in blogs and some other websites and if it wasn't for them, nobody would've probably known about them. This has not happened in previous elections in such scale. So here is another example of political effect of blogs in Iran.