News Media Credibility among Residents of Tehran

The present article studies trust and credibility of the domestic and foreign media among residents of Tehran. It also examines the influence that social developments exert on this issue. The article is based on Stuart Hall's theoretical classification and Anderson's theory on source credibility. The authors reach the conclusion that the position of mutuality on domestic media among citizens of Tehran has grown, while public trust in hegemonic position has been significantly reduced. On the other hand, the article discusses thatthe validity of media sources, examined in this study, decreases so does the value of their information. Other findings indicate an increased tendency of the residents towards the satellite channels and lack of interest in the outside radio stations within past 5 years. Such diversion and increased tendency are explained in terms of negative attitudes towards outside radio stations compared to the visual attraction of satellite programs. More than 90 percent of the people studied believe that they follow the news if they find the news correct and real. People whose change of attitude was rated ‘very high’ (68.8%) used satellite products.The authors express their concern on reduction of domestic audience and suggest that in order to strengthen the national unity such reduction should be prevented to reach drastic proportions.