President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on reporters to present a realistic picture of Iran.
“Today, our mission is to introduce Iran to the world as beautiful and powerful it is,“ said President Ahmadinejad in an address to a group of reporters on the occasion of Journalists Day (August 7).
President Ahmadinejad expressed regret over the unbiased manner in which the western media cover Iranian developments, Presstv reported.
“Some sections of the western media try to distort the realities and capabilities of the Iranian nation,“ he said.
The president also said any success in presenting a realistic picture of Iran’s abundant potentials to the world would help change others’ attitude towards the country.
He noted that mediapersons in Iran make efforts to convey the messages of peace, justice, perfection and love, despite shortcomings in the way.
“Most criticisms were directed against the ninth government by the domestic media, but few complaints have been filed by the government against media and press activists,“ he said.
The president urged state bodies to retract all complaints filed against the media on the occasion of Journalists Day.
Ahmadinejad said the media’s most effective role is to convey the messages of peace, brotherhood, sincerity and to help fight war, selfishness and unilateralism.
August 7 has been designated as Journalists Day in Iran to mark the martyrdom of IRNA’s reporter Mahmoud Saremi, along with eight Iranian diplomats, at the Iranian Consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif when the Taliban militia toppled the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani in 1998.

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Lebanese Shiite resistance group Hezbollah now has more arms and personnel than it did before the 2006 war with Israel, a Shiite MP said on Friday.
“The resistance gives the assurance that it has become more powerful in equipment and number after the July war“ with Israel, said Hassan Fadlallah, AFP reported.
Hezbollah, which enjoys both a political party as well as a resistance armed wing, “will not refrain from reinforcing its capabilities“, he told Lebanon’s official news agency.
Highly popular among Lebanese people due to its resistance in the summer war against Israel two years ago, Hezbollah is part of a national unity government in Lebanon that was formed on July 11.
But negotiations on a policy statement were hampered by disputes on the key issue of the arsenal of Hezbollah, which has continued to insist on the “right to resist“ Israel.
The policy statement insists on “the right of Lebanon, its people, its army and its resistance to liberate its land“ that is occupied by Israel.
The controversy created by western-backed elements in Lebanon over Hezbollah’s weapons intensified after its militants captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006 that sparked the 33-day war.

Russian tanks have rolled into Georgian territory as fears grow that an all-out war will break out over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
Up to 150 Russian tanks and armored vehicles are reported to have been sent in, following claims that Georgia shot down two Russian warplanes, Sky News reported.
Georgia has reportedly appealed to international leaders to stop Russian intervention in what began as a conflict between the former Soviet state and South Ossetian separatists.
The Russian military said that the region’s capital, Tskhinvali, had been “almost completely destroyed“, while President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to punish anyone who attacked Russian nationals.
It was reported earlier that Georgian artillery shells killed several Russian peacekeepers, while Georgia claimed that Russian jets had injured seven people in a bombing raid.
A UN call for an immediate ceasefire between all sides fell on deaf ears.
The UN had earlier failed to reach an agreement on a Russia-drafted statement that would have called on Georgia and separatists region to halt all bloodshed.
Witnesses reported seeing intense fire from heavy weapons at different locations skirting Tskhinvali as well as hearing heavy fighting coming from the direction of the city.
The night sky was lit up blue and red by explosions and Georgian forces appeared to be firing Katyusha rockets.
A spokesman for the separatists said in Moscow that the offensive had caused “deaths and many wounded“.
Skirmishes since the weekend have deepened fears of full-blown conflict in the Caucasus, which is emerging as a vital energy transit route and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.

Anti-occupation Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr would dissolve his Mehdi Army militia if the United States starts withdrawing troops according to a set timetable, a spokesman said.
The statement comes at a crucial point in talks between Baghdad and Washington over a new so-called security pact that will provide an excuse for US troops to operate in Iraq when a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.
US President George W. Bush has refused to set a firm timetable for withdrawing 144,000 troops from Iraq, but spoke last month of a general “time horizon“ for a pullout, Reuters reported.
Iraqi negotiators have proposed a timetable that would see US combat troops leave the country by October 2010, although Washington has not yet agreed to it, a senior Iraqi official said on Friday.
If agreed, the timetable would mean the Bush administration effectively adopting a schedule very close to that proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
A ceasefire imposed by Sadr on his group a year ago has been a major factor in a drop in violence in Iraq to four-year lows. Sadr, whose political movement controls 10 percent of seats in parliament, has long demanded US troops leave Iraq.
“We feel there’s a serious intention by the American forces for a withdrawal timetable at the very least,“ Sadr’s Spokesman Salah Al-Ubaidi said before Friday prayers, when the cleric is to launch a new cultural wing of his movement.
“It should not be considered an end to the Mehdi army, but it’s a halfway step to dissolving the Mehdi Army. If the US began to implement a withdrawal timetable, we shall complete the path to dissolution,“ Ubaidi said.
Iraqi government officials say an agreement is close on a timetable for a US withdrawal. But the White House says it is too soon to say when it can pull out its forces, which have been in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
The issue is politically sensitive in the United States ahead of the presidential election in November. Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat troops by mid-2010, while his Republican opponent John McCain refuses to set a date.
The Iraqi proposal would see US forces withdraw from the streets of Iraqi cities by the middle of next year and combat troops return home by October 2010. Some American support units could stay on for another few years, the senior official said.