Understanding Islamic Republic of Iran’s Media Policy: A Concentration on Regulations and Laws

ABSTRACT

Iran’s media policy is one of the most complicated media policies around the world. The Islamic rules and ideologies and the principle of the Islamic Revolution are the foundations of Iran’s media policy. The Iranian media policy and its regulations are changed through the last two centuries and it is adapted according to the advent of new media and new political situations. There are different regulations and laws including the press, broadcasting, satellite and cyberspace. The challenges of new media have enforced the government to make new media policies. This article analyzes Iran’s media policy in the framework of the normative theories of media and uses the documentary method to show how the advent of new media and communication technologies and political situations has changed media regulations and laws in Iran. As Iran’s media policy and media regulating system is a unique model in the world, a synthesizing perspective of the six media normative theories can explain Iran’s media regulating system, while it has more similarities to the social responsibility theory.

KEYWORDS:

• Media policy
• media regulation
• Iran
• the IRIB
• the Islamic Revolution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The meaning of newspaper in Persian language.

2. The members of this commission include: the Ministers of Culture and Islamic Guidance (head of the commission), Communications and Information Technology, Intelligence and Defense, the Head of the Country’s Management and Planning Organization, the Head of the Administrative Court of Justice, the Chairman of Parliament’s Cultural Commission, the Secretary of the Country’s Supreme Information Technology Council (LDFAI, p. 18).

3. The Persian expression that means radio and TV are like a general and public school or university with strong power to effect on public opinion and change people’s idea and behavior.