فصلنامه مطالعات عملیات روانی
پیاپی 49 (پاییز و زمستان 1397)

This paper deals with the role and status of media in shaping public opinion in our country. The past experience of the Islamic Revolution proves this supposition that foreign media invasion will be increased both in quantity and quality in future. The development of communication technology has facilitated the West efforts to attack our values and ideals as well as religious, revolutionary and national norms of Iranians. The Islamic Revolution relies on people, therefore, this paper using cultural reflections of the Leader of the Revolution has emphasized on concepts like media and its function, public opinion and media function and their role for the integrity of the internal structure of the state. This is an applied research that explains the role and status of media in directing public opinion based on the thoughts of the Leader of the Revolution and is going to answer this question: “What is the role and status of media in shaping public opinion for the expansion of defense culture?” Documentary method has been used for the collection of data. Finally, qualitative content analysis is the method which is used for reviewing Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei viewpoints.

Celebrities are those famous individuals whose actions are focused and welcomed by public mass, however, their social presence lacks rational, political, and scientific indications necessary for social elites. Indeed, change in lifestyle influenced by modernity, causes celebrities to obtain a social reference status and people refer to them as a model of lifestyle and even in social-political issues. Relying on their publicity and popularity caused by activities in “entertainment” field, celebrities take a number of positions relating to various issues of public sphere. Being lowlevel and sentimental is the main characteristic of these positions, however they affect public opinion directly. According to this, this paper, as its main goal, tries to focus on the nature and the way of celebrities’ action in public sphere. Therefore, the main question here is: “What are the components of celebrities’ actions in public sphere and what are the consequences of such actions on cultural and societal security?” The issue is dealt with through an explaining and descriptive study using cultural and societal security viewpoint.

Friendship societies as an important lever of improving cultural diplomacy and being influential in public opinion are intensely focused by international actors. Therefore, this paper tries to answer this question “what is the role of Iranian friendship societies in managing international public opinions?” I’ve done the job through the use of analytical approach in quantitative and qualitative studies and by applying constructivism theory and internationalism as well. Findings of the paper show that Iranian friendship societies in different countries pave the way for Islamic Republic of Iran to approach other nation-states and this process in turn brings legitimation and reduces political tensions between countries neighboring Iran. As great powers try to illustrate Iran and its policies fearful, these societies, by indicating a favorable image of Iran, are able to modify public opinion and neutralize Western black propaganda against Iran. According to this, performance of these societies in international public opinion has a strong relation to Iran’s international credit and may help the expansion of revolutionary culture and values very much. The entire performance and functions of these societies may facilitate the guidance of international public opinion and that is very important in strengthening Iran’s international position. SPSS software and questionnaire is the tool used to take necessary information.

One of the important and determining factors indicating the success and failure of a society is conformity of the subjective culture of that society and its objective one. This issue shows that the cultural system is very active and there is a strong relationship between economic, social and political subsystems. Having an active culture or a passive one is indicated in the lifestyle of a society. Lifestyle refers to the nature, content of the relations, interactions and actions of individuals as well as different groups of a society. One of the main elements of transforming culture of a society is national media. Islam and the Holy Quran have a complete and comprehensive program for making subjective culture of the society and for the prosperity, improvement, and perfection of human beings in this world and the other world as well. TV and radio may act as an instructing institution which influences culture and propagate the life style. Thus, studying the direction of Iran’s TV serials is the main goal of this paper. The method of the study is quantitative content analysis and the indicators for studying lifestyle are taken from Mo’menun, Towbe, and Asra surah of the Holy Quran. Then we reviewed serials broadcasted by 1 and 3 channels during the month of Bahman 1393 to Ordibehesht 1394. The results and findings of the research show that some Islamic lifestyle indicators in behaviorial and value dimensions have not been observed in a balanced form by the authors; while the Holy Quran as the main guideline for life in an Islamic society, puts emphasis on them. However some indicators have been more important for the authors.

Nowadays, media are among the main sources of soft power and those in power do their best to increase their utilization of media. However, media have such a role and position in daily life that living without them is unimaginable. Media are not entertainment devices only, but they contribute and have a role in many individual and social aspects of our life. Computer games, as newly-appeared medium and according to their unique characteristics, like other media try to represent what they want, not what the truth is. The gap between truth and what the media offer, has caused a lot of efforts to describe and explain how and why media representations of the world take place. This research using John Fisk’s method in semiotics, aims “to represent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s face in computer games”, and deals with Splinter Cell Blacklist game. Presenting an altered, unreal and terrorist face of IRGC is among the aims of this game. We have done this research by purposeful sampling. The results show that the West has intelligently attempted to strengthen Iranophobia and IRGC phobia in public opinion of the world and make a dirty and cruel image of them in the mind of audiences.

Public opinion is not a new phenomenon, however, it lacks a complete and comprehensive definition. Yet there is an approximate consensus about its power to legitimizing a government or toppling it down. Public opinion is affected by different components and factors. Previously, public opinion was shaped and developed slowly and gradually, but now influenced by mass media it is shaped quickly and gets a political direction. Media such as TV, cinema, social networks and instruments of media, influence the direction of public opinion. Among these media, cinema, because of its status and function is focused by many countries, and they try to affect public opinion by producing different movies. According to this, the question here is “what is the status of cinema in shaping public opinion?” and “how much is the rate of this influence?” To answer this question, the article using descriptive-analytic approach deals with the relationship between public opinion and cinema.

The aim of this paper is, reviewing the role of media in directing and managing public opinion through the use of accurate and influential management and transforming it to an instrument of crisis control for calming the society. Amadnews, an active political and sensational channel in Telegram, is controlled outside of Iran. The members of this channel reached more than 211 thousand in July 2018 and this rising trend continued and in early December of 2018 passed 1.4 million users. During the disturbances of this month, Amadnews and other Telegram channels took the responsibility of organizing and launching street clashes. These channels directed the disorders of December of 2018 by instructing how to confront police forces, declaring the places of meetings, determining the slogans and timetable of the riots, and finally video coverage of events. Encouraging rioters to attack the banks and rob their money, disseminating fake news about Tehran and other cities and suggesting arm conflicts to perform Syrian and Libyan’s model in Iran are among other activities of these media. To analyze the data the researcher has used both quantitative and qualitative methods. The results show that Telegram acted as a strong accelerator in abnormal and especially critical situations to reduce the time between opposition and riot. It has also performed roles like leading, instruction, and psychological operation and so on.