TEHRAN — A team of journalists from the Tehran Times and Mehr News Agency paid a visit to the official English language China Daily newspaper recently.

Songxin Xie, assistant editor-in-chief of the China Daily, explained that the newspaper has 150 million online visitors and subscribers with a daily circulation of 900,000 worldwide. 

Founded in 1981, the China Daily in being published in different versions in different parts of the world, he said. For instance, he said, the newspaper is being published in Hong Kong, Europe, the United States, and Southeastern Asia with the content appropriate for each of the aforesaid region. 

It has 18 offices in China and 35 offices abroad, Songxin heighted. 

“The China Daily is among the top 100 newspapers worldwide and also among the top 20 nationwide; the China Daily website is also among the major news sources in China.”

Songxin also welcomed the idea of joint collaboration with the Tehran Times and Mehr News Agency, saying exchanging news can set the stage for mutual cooperation. 

“Currently we are collaborating with top world newspapers such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, Le Figaro, and newspapers from Portugal, Indonesia, and some other countries.

“One of the advantages of cooperating with other newspapers and news agencies is that we can introduce China to non-Chinese readers, and they can also get to know China through international media outlets in our own words; we are planning on getting global recognition.”
He also said, “Media can play a key role in [promoting] trade, economic, and cultural relations among the One Belt One Road countries.”

He finally concluded that cooperation among the Tehran Times, Mehr News Agency and China Daily can pave the way for the world to know about both China and Iran collaboratively.

The Mehr News Agency news room deputy director Seyyed Hassan Dehqani, for his part, explained that the Tehran Times is the oldest English language newspaper in Iran which came into existence concurrent with the advent of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

He said the Mehr News Agency has also been working for 15 years and it publishes news in five languages: Persian, Turkish, Arabic, English and Urdu.

Mehr News Agency has four major departments including domestic news department, foreign news department, provincial news department, and new media department, Dehqani explained.

Also, the news agency has provincial departments across the country, he said, adding that the new media department also includes Mehr radio, infographic, multimedia, and social media like twitter, Facebook and local messaging apps.
Mohammad Ghaderi, the Tehran Times editor-in-chief, said Iranians, including those inside and outside the country, and foreigners are the main readers of the Tehran Times. 
In addition to print version, the news and opinion pieces are published online, he said.

“We are trying to give coverage to the most important local and international news from Iran’s point of view,” the senior editor explained.
He added, “One of the most important goals of the Tehran Times is to convey political and cultural messages of the Islamic Revolution to the world. 

“We are doing our best to speak the truth which is either subjected to censorship in western media or being twisted, and it is our mutual interest with the China Daily to end the monopoly by Western media,” Ghaderi remarked.

It is scheduled that the Tehran Times, Mehr News Agency and China Daily sign a memorandum of understating to facilitate future cooperation.

MQ/MG