The Olympic Industry and International Communication; A Study of the Beijing Olympics with an Emphasis on the Cultural Image Cultivated by China in the International System

Sport and culture interaction has been given a place in most social studies in recent century, and the media has been dedicated an active and effective role as a third party. The media is actually at the core of sport championship attention due to its high image cultivation potential and cultural hegemony stabilization. The Olympic Games mark a turning point in the contemporary sports championship era due to their international impact and their being recognized as an index of sustained development political and economic stability, and social hope and liveliness. Thus, The Beijing Olympics (2008), at a time when the Chinese government endeavored to prove an active part in the international arena, whether or not it could manage to obtain such a prestige, can be considered as one of the most important areas for studying the media and sport and culture image status in politics and international power relations in present time. In one of the article sections there is a study of the Chinese determination for launching a distinctive plan for the games on the one hand and their meeting with resistance in the way of holding the event on the other. This is in itself some evidence of the significant role the Olympic Games have played in the international power relations. A descriptive and exploratory method has been used by the article to illustrate this aspect of the Olympics as a "cultural industry" in the international cultural communication in the present time, some valuable information to be presented to Iranian media and cultural policy making officials for consideration.