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Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19610/iran-culture-war
Culture War in Iran
(Gatestone Institute) Amir Taheri - In April, as Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke before an audience of young recruits for the Basij militia, some in the audience started to cackle and boo him. As the booing continued, he hastily headed for the exit. The scene, broadcast live, was later removed from official websites. Today, official TV is watched by less than 2% of Iranians while foreign-based satellite TV stations, beaming from Britain and the U.S., have secured audiences topping a million. Popular musicians attract much larger audiences than official reciters of the holy text. With every day that passes, the number of women discarding the hijab grows. Opinion polls over the past three decades show that the American "Great Satan" is more popular in Iran than in France and Germany. The writer was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979.