Analysis of Media Literacy in Three Iranian Communication and Cultural Organizations

With the development of media, the world entered a new phase in which media not only continued its increasing growth in terms of both technology and variety, but as a whole it turned into one of the central components of human societies. Over the past two decades, many thinkers in the field of communication have focused on media literacy as a key element whose public promotion can prevent many negative effects of media, increase the range of audience access to media, and turn the audience themselves into producers of communicative messages. Defined as a science whose aim is to regulate the relationship between the audience and media based on internalized norms, media literacy is a crucial factor to be considered when formulating a country’s media policy. Several models have been proposed for formulating media policies, among which the model developed by the European Commission is among the most comprehensive ones. The model is comprised of four components of media literacy, including access, use, critical understanding and communicative production. The present study employed the EC model in a documentary and analytical research methodology to examine components of media literacy in three important cultural and educational organizations in Iran: the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Ministry of Education, and the Artistic-Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality. Results from the analysis of documents from the Ministry of Education revealed that the main focus was on use and on critical understanding, and that no policy was formulated for promoting communicative production. In the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, policy documents only addressed digital media and there were no policies developed for other type of media, including print and electronic media.