Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Health Promotion Perspectives 2228-6497 4 2 2014 12 30 Barriers of Health News Producers’ Empowerment: A Qualitative Study in Iran 214 220 10.5681/hpp.2014.028 EN Mahnaz Ashoorkhani Mohammad Hossein Taghdisi Safoora Shahmoradi Leila Haghjoo Reza Majdzadeh Journal Article 10.5681/hpp.2014.028 2014 04 20 Background: Studies show that raising news producers’ knowledge and skills are influential and necessary for promoting the quality of health news. This study aimed to investigate the barriers to implementing empowerment programs for news producers and to identify their respective solutions. Methods: In this qualitative content analysis the opinion of 14 journalists, one translator, 10 editors or editors-in-chief of health news agencies were gathered through 12 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussions. Purposive sam­pling was done and interviews continued up to the point of saturation. Data were analyzed with Open Code software. Results: The barriers to the implementation of empowerment programs were identified as: a) individual factors, b) deficiency of certain facilitators, and c) organizational and macro policymakings. Various solutions were suggested for the barriers respectively. Conclusion: The implementation of empowerment programs for news pro­ducers requires a system approach toward its determinant factors. This will be more likely if measures at other concerned levels are also taken. Creating incen­tives on behalf of the news-producing organizations can also contribute to this end and create a suitable context for news producers. Training and empower­ment alone will not be sufficient.