 A new national newspaper, the "Khorshid" or "Sun", hit the newsstands on Saturday, published by an aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Like its mass-circulation British namesake, the full color daily will cover all topics from political issues to sports and soap operas.
The centerfold of Khorshid is a picture illustrating a current news story.
| Umm, that's not a 'centerfold' ... |
Initial circulation is targeted at 200,000, which publisher Mohammad Paryab hopes to build up later. Khorshid, whose launch has been expected for a few months, has gone on sale only eight months before the country's next presidential elections, prompting speculation it might serve as a campaign tool for the re-election of Ahmadinejad. "If we wanted to do that, we would have allocated 10 to 12 pages of the 24-page newspaper for political news," said Paryab, who used to be deputy government spokesman and secretary of the presidency information council. |