Development-Oriented Media Institutions, Axis of Rural Development: The Consistency between Programmes of Provincial Television and Rural Development in Ardabil Province of Iran

Villages have a vital role in biological, demographic and economic equilibrium of societies from the late times; thus the issue of integrated rural development is the main focus of many studies. Rural development has a special position in modern theories of development. These theories consider the enhancement of social participation as the main tool for development. Today, social participation is not only an end but also a mean to development which its realization necessitates the utilization of powerful instruments such as mass media. It is an indicator of development and a contributing factor to it. The focus of participatory theory is on local media instead of national media in rural development projects. But a few decades of experience in Iran indicate they had not a desirable performance. The objective of this study is to examine the structure and contents of television programmes in Ardabil provincial network with respect to their consistency with social, economic, cultural, psychological, functional, and structural features of rural society in one hand, and their consistency with the social participation of rural population on the other hand. Research results indicated the contents of these programmes were not consistent with the mentioned dimensions and with the exception of economic consistency the impacts of other variables on the social participation of rural population were significant. Rural development requires developed media that consider development issue in all of its dimensions as the main agenda for activity and planning.