Investigating the Opportunities and Threats of Sponsors in the Management of Religious (National) Media

The national media, as a religious media, needs extensive financial and economic arrangements to expand its activities. One of strategic methods in the management of this organization is to activate sponsors. In this research, which uses the approach of grounded theory, the opinions of 15 media and advertising experts about the opportunities and threats of the sponsors of the programs have been taken and formulated. The results show that the most important reasons for the media to get the support of sponsors is the financial and economic needs. In this regard, the use of new financial resources and more facilities to participate in the cost of production considered as the benefits for media, while devolving management of a part of the content and macro media authority to sponsors, and accepting changes from the religious lifestyle to consumerism, which is preferred by sponsors, and neglecting the goals of the religious media and distance from the religious dignity of the media and distance from Islamic principles and values are among the negative consequences of this issue. Also, according to the theory of social responsibility, religious media should formulate professional standards based on religious principles for moral and legal charter including clear instructions for the presence of sponsors in a realistic and possible way so that while the media uses sponsors, the negative consequences can be reduced or eliminated .