The Representation of the National Information Network in Overseas Media

The National Information Network (NIN) in Iran as the communication infrastructure of the national cyberspace is an ongoing project that has been a subject of media attention including some foreign media agencies in recent years. Since the media representations in this regard can be effective on public opinion orientations about the nature of the national information network, the representation of the project in some Persian and non-persian overseas media that have been selected by theoretical sampling has been studied using qualitative content analysis. Accordingly key statements arised from the selected texts have been summarized as far as possible and analyzed as the themes. Finally, six categories and eleven sub-categories were derived from the themes. Main categories include: Ambiguity in relationship between national information network and global Internet; Iran’s Authoritarian and totalitarian approach to the cyberspase by establishing the national information network; Iran’s demagogic propaganda about the national information network; Public concern over the implementation of the project; Costly process of launching the project and financial corruption of its implementers; and Iran’s inability to launch the national information network because of some social barriers and consequences.