Fars News Agency is an Iranian news agency founded in 2003. The U.S. Treasury has been applying sanctions against it since 2020.
Media assets
Fars News Agency
State Media Monitor Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Fars News Agency is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which ensures that the agency is managed by people the Guards agree with, according to local experts. No other information is known about the status of the agency.
Source of funding and budget
According to our local experts consulted in April 2024, Fars News Agency is funded through government subsidies, which account for most of its budget. Based on the experts’ estimates, the agency operates with a budget of some US$ 9m in 2023.
Editorial independence
Fars News Agency is a “semi-official” or state agency controlled by the Iranian government. It is known to be backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which controls the agency’s editorial coverage to the last detail.
Fars News Agency is known for misleading and even outright false news and extremist content. The US Treasury added the agency to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) list, which features individuals and companies whose assets abroad are frozen by US authorities and with whom American citizens are forbidden to deal.
No domestic statute or independent assessment mechanism to validate the editorial independence of Fars News Agency has been identified.
July 2024