Objective:The issue of marginalization in Mashhad is of considerable significance, as the latest statistics provided by the Khorasan Newspaper in 2010 indicate that over 1.3 million people reside in the peripheral areas of the city, accounting for more than one-third of Mashhad's total population. This population is steadily increasing due to factors such as economic hardship and escalating housing costs, thereby rendering the crisis progressively more acute. Furthermore, Mashhad, as the second-largest city in Iran and the site of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), has consistently attracted the attention of both domestic and international audiences, which further underscores the urgency of addressing this issue. Given the heterogeneous nature of social crises, a uniform solution cannot be prescribed for all such phenomena. Even in seemingly similar crises, solutions must be tailored to the unique social, political, economic, geographical, and cultural conditions of each locality, particularly during the pre-crisis stage. This principle holds true for the marginalization crisis, as the factors contributing to marginalization in one city differ substantially from those in another. Marginalization is inherently a subjective concept, and its manifestations vary across cities and countries. Accordingly, this research seeks to identify media-based solutions to address the marginalization crisis in Mashhad, leveraging the capacity of local media and the functions of crisis management through media channels. The media can either prevent the formation of crises through appropriate proactive roles or contribute to their resolution during and after their emergence. Investigating the marginalization crisis in Mashhad and proposing media-driven strategies for the Khorasan Razavi Provincial Broadcasting Network constitutes the primary objective and central concern of this article.
Method: This research adopts a qualitative approach. The target population consists of experts and officials actively engaged in addressing the marginalization crisis in Mashhad. Employing a purposive snowball sampling method, 16 experts and officials were selected for participation. In-depth interviews were utilized as the data collection instrument. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the interview data, resulting in the extraction of 57 codes, which were subsequently categorized into 19 sub-themes and 3 overarching themes.
Results:The extracted themes pertaining to crisis resolution encompass: (1) the reasons for the lack of program production addressing the marginalization crisis; (2) expectations and proposed solutions for overcoming this crisis; and (3) content-related deficiencies in the programs currently produced by Sima Khorasan Razavi concerning the marginalization crisis.
Conclusions:Drawing upon the extracted themes and the theoretical background of this research-obtained through documentary and library study methods-it is evident that effective management of the marginalization crisis in Mashhad requires, while attending to the various stages of crisis development, a multi-pronged approach. First, it is necessary to rectify the content deficiencies inherent in current programming. These deficiencies include a flawed perception of peri-urban areas, the exacerbation of urban discrimination, and the polarization of the city. Second, efforts should be directed toward fostering a distinct identity for the peripheral areas, moving beyond the mere representation of the detrimental effects of marginalization, and instead offering constructive solutions across social, cultural, economic, religious, educational, health, immigration, and addiction-related domains. Third, it is imperative to avoid a conservative approach; rather, media action should be redirected from passivity to hyperactivity. This transition, supported by the allocation of adequate budgetary resources to local media, would enable the Khorasan Razavi Television Network to adopt a predictive, preventive, and preparatory role in managing the marginalization crisis in Mashhad.