Television, Individual Empowerment and Human Poverty; Explaining the Functional Framework

The media institution is created as a developmental and evolutionary institution in most countries, so that by changing the existing social structures through individual empowerment, it seeks to replace structural tools for development. The main purpose of this study is to explain the mass media functions of television for the development of individual empowerment with the aim of preventing human poverty. This qualitative study was conducted using the conceptualization method of Grounded theory. In this study, using theoretical sampling, thirteen university professors, managers, and experts with work experience in the field of development communication were interviewed through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data were interpreted through open, axial, and selective coding. The findings of the present study show that this medium plays four main functions for the development of individual empowerment. The first function is to provide a context in the political, economic, social, cultural, and technological dimensions that is considered the freedom of opportunity for the development of individual empowerment. The second function is to provide causal conditions by accepting the necessity of developing the country, human position as capacity and realization of human excellence. Providing mediating factors is the third function that is done through education and awareness, motivation, recognition of audience characteristics, attention to media human capital, media organizational structure and the ideology that governs it. Finally, using the change strategy based of human default with capacity as development, the fourth function is identified.