New Media Policy-Making in Iran:(Case Study of the IRIB Organization & the National Center of Cyber Space)

This article concerns the new media policy-making in Iran. Today, any media policy-making requires consideration of other areas of communication, including new communication technologies. The purpose of this study is to identify the most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of new media policy-making in Iran with the focus on the IRIB organization and the National Center of Cyberspace .This research uses a method based on SWOT Analysis Matrix to deal with the IRIB & the National Center of Cyberspace’s media policy-making whit new media. Therefore, purposive interviews were conducted with 26 managers and experts in the area of policy making and media. The findings demonstrate that in new media policy-making, weaknesses of the IRIB organization outnumber the strengths, with the future threats overshadowing the opportunities. Therefore, The organization must reduce its vulnerability by putting scientific policies on the agenda, avoiding duplication of work, resisting informal pressures, and using audience-friendly policies. On the contrary, strengths of the National Center of Cyberspace outnumber the weaknesses, with the future opportunities overshadowing the threats. Therefore, This center should also monitor the country's cyberspace as much as possible by strengthening the infrastructure and creating a national information network, policy-making on content production with Iranian-Islamic lifestyle themes, using the power of knowledge-based companies and the private sector and policy-making in order to promote people's media literacy, take advantage of external opportunities to strengthen its strengths.These findings show the political and ideological components as well as their complicated processes in media policy-making.