Pathology of the Local Media from the Aspect of Professional Journalism and Developmental Journalism

The present paper addresses the pathology of local press from thestand point of professional journalism and the indicators ofdevelopmental journalism. The data used in this paper have beencollected from two separate studies done in 1390[2011] using contentanalysis method on local press of Khuzestan and Kurdistan provinces.A secondary analysis has been done on these data.The paper is based on the premise that the local press must observethe criteria of professional journalism and developmental journalismtogether to be able to fulfill their duties and responsibilities.Studies showed that the explored press was severely far from consideredcriteria except in special cases, while these cases are in doubt too.Paying no attention to the producing local content and meeting localissues and needs, negligence about procedure-driven genres injournalism, personalism and FT reputation, intense overcome of newselements of "what and who" over news elements of "why and how",very low level of developmental subjects in the investigatedpublications, no review about developmental plans, no respect foretiquettes, ceremonies, and local traditions were some of damages thatthis paper found with respect to the findings of the abovementionedstudies. Based on them, we have suggested doing a series of casestudies on local press all across the country and the allocation of cashsubsides to them with respect to the degree of closeness or distancefrom professional and developmental journalism principles. Also,training the directors, editors, and editorial board members must be onthe agenda, and more favorable environment must be prepared forlocal press activities.