Objective: In contemporary societies, cultural industries function as powerful forces that significantly shape social life. Consequently, understanding their roles is essential for comprehending and transforming the social world. As a key component of cultural industries, the media industry influences various dimensions of social life and encompasses a wide array of functions and outcomes. This research aims to examine the media industry in Iran in the context of global developments, with a specific focus on the information sector during the 1990s.
Method: This study adopts a descriptive and analytical approach, utilizing secondary analysis to investigate developments within cultural industries, particularly in the media and information sector during the 1990s.
Results: The findings indicate that the media and information industry has increasingly moved toward digitalization, driven by both global and domestic factors-including social, political, economic, and technological developments. In 2015, the number of electronic media outlets stood at 78, a figure that rose to 1,924 by 2022. Moreover, the number of licenses issued for online electronic media increased from 437 in 2015 to 817 in 2022, while licenses for offline media grew from 25 to 388 over the same period.
Conclusions: As a result of transformations in the media industry-particularly the rise of electronic media-media policy-making and administrative structures have undergone significant changes. At the institutional level, new communication and media apparatuses have emerged in response to advancements in media and communication technologies. While this development holds promise for the emergence of diverse and independent voices, it also raises concerns about the proliferation of uncritical narratives and potential threats to local culture.