Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Media Management, Faculty of Culture and Art of the Islamic Revolution, Islamic Revolution University, Tehran, Iran.
2
Assistant Professor, Media Management Department, Islamic Revolution Faculty of Culture and Art, Islamic Revolution University of Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jgdsm.2026.569504.1025
Abstract
Media management is commonly defined as a set of technical and organizational practices aimed at coordinating the production, distribution, and regulation of media content. Such approaches typically frame media management in terms of efficiency, optimization, and procedural control, while paying limited attention to the philosophical rationalities underlying these managerial practices. This article adopts a historical–analytical perspective to argue that media management can be understood as an institutional manifestation of instrumental rationality rooted in Western modernity.
The study begins by examining the philosophical foundations of instrumental rationality in the works of Descartes and Kant, highlighting how reason was progressively conceptualized as an active, calculative, and organizing force. It then explores the sociological institutionalization of this rationality through Max Weber’s theory of rationalization and bureaucracy, emphasizing the role of formal rationality in structuring organizational decision-making within media institutions. Drawing on Critical Theory, particularly the Frankfurt School’s critique of the culture industry, the article extends the analysis to the cultural domain, demonstrating how instrumental rationality operates not only at the organizational level but also in the production and standardization of meaning.
The article further argues that control in contemporary media management functions as a multi-layered structural phenomenon encompassing organizational, cultural, and cognitive dimensions, rather than as the outcome of intentional domination by individual actors. In its final section, the study examines digital and platform-based media environments, focusing on the emergence of algorithmic rationality. It shows that data-driven systems and algorithmic governance represent an advanced, impersonal continuation of instrumental rationality, reshaping decision-making processes, content circulation, and audience attention.
Without advancing normative prescriptions, this article seeks to clarify the rational foundations of media management and to provide a conceptual framework for future critical research on media governance and algorithmic control.
Keywords