Abstract
The rapid growth of social media and the transformation of audiences’ media consumption patterns have posed a serious challenge of audience decline for traditional news organizations, including the News Division of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Despite its structural advantages and institutional credibility, IRIB News has largely adopted a passive and reactive approach toward social media. This study aims to identify the barriers to effective interaction between IRIB News and social media platforms and to propose strategies for fostering synergy and developing a “value network.” In terms of purpose, the research is applied-developmental, while methodologically it is exploratory in nature. A qualitative research approach was employed, using content analysis of upstream policy documents and semi-structured interviews with experts in journalism and media. The collected data were analyzed through thematic analysis using a three-stage coding process.
The findings revealed that the main barriers exist at three levels: structural, including inadequate interactive infrastructure, restrictive administrative regulations, and the absence of an independent social media governance unit; content-related, including one-way news dissemination, the lack of multimedia storytelling, and insufficient production of platform-specific content for social media; and cultural and human resource-related, including resistance to organizational change, inadequate staff training, and concerns that social media engagement could undermine the authority of the national broadcaster.
The proposed strategies for creating synergy include redefining the role of news personnel as “professional citizen journalists,” designing an integrated content-sharing system, establishing real-time audience feedback mechanisms, and leveraging user-generated content through participatory production. Furthermore, the prerequisites for developing a value network include greater transparency in news redistribution processes, mechanisms for verifying user-generated content, and operational agreements with domestic social media and messaging platforms.
The findings indicate that transforming IRIB News from a passive to an active and interactive communication model requires overcoming these multi-layered barriers and designing practical mechanisms for collaboration and synergy. Without establishing a value network in which audiences serve not only as consumers but also as producers and distributors of news through social media, effective interaction cannot be achieved. Implementing the proposed strategies can help reduce audience attrition while strengthening the social capital of the national broadcaster.