You might want to have a look at the mullahs’ version of the BBC (you might also ask yourself how, from the mullahs’ point of view, it’s possible to improve on the BBC, but that’s another matter altogether). Yes, Iran now has its very own “news network,” Press TV .

As of now, they lead with this blockbuster story: “A US F-16 warplane has crashed during takeoff at a base north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad,” and they add, with an evident tone of sadness, “but the pilot has survived the accident.”

They called me from Tehran the other day asking if I’d go on. I said sure, provided that it was live, and at a time of day when Iranian viewers would be able to see it. I didn’t want to go on late in the day here–which is what they proposed–since it would be the middle of the night in Tehran. I never heard back.