Media Diplomacy Model in Public Relations Centers: a Qualitative Study

Effective Public Relations Departments in Organizations are working in international level. Given the changes that have occurred and bolding the element of communication, media diplomacy has become very important during these days. This PhD dissertation tries to design media diplomacy model for effective use of media for the desirable presence of organizations in international arenas.This study was conducted with qualitative method and grounded theory approach. The participants of this research were 25 individuals who have knowledge in media, public relations, communication. The data needed for the study was collected through a deep and semi-structured interview with participants. Obtained data were analyzed on the basis of “Corbin and Strauss version (2008)”. Manual method and the Software of MAXQDA 10 were used for data analysis.With analyzing data, about 940 primary codes (open coding) were extracted without calculating their overlapping. Then, these codes were compared on the basis of the similarities and differences and 26 subcategories (including concepts and contexts) were obtained. 11 sub-sub categories were appeared and four main categories for concept and a main category for context were come out. Core variable was “systemic management" in media diplomacy and four main categories for concept were “process”,” facilitating factors”, “hindering factors” and “achievement” and one main category for context was” context for realizing media diplomacy”.Equipping public relations with media diplomacy can notify the existence of an organization in the international arena. Organizations want to have an impact in global changes and to have a share in global market.