The Transformation Of The Media System In Turkey

The book focuses on the changes that the media system in Turkey went through since early 2000s. Its perspective considers sociology of citizenship and focuses on processes such as Europeanization, de-Europeanization, authoritarianism on the one hand and implications of digitalization and convergence on the other. It tracks the transformation of the media system through the trajectories of normative, participative, and entrepreneurial citizenship practices. The final sections focus on aspects of convergence evidenced in bottom-up and participatory forms of digital media such as the birth of citizen journalism and fact-checkers after the demise of conventional mainstream media in recent years.

The transformations in alternative media, journalism and social protest in contemporary Turkey have largely occurred due to the upsurge in use of social media. Some of the most fervent users of social media in the world come from Turkey where forms of social media are frequently banned by the Turkish government. This book looks at the structural, economic and political reasons why the current media system fails urban educated young professionals in Turkey and led them to a month long resistance and protest through the use of social media during OccupyGezi movement. The book outlines the history of alternative media use and the ways in which it has become a tool for the critics of the neoliberal economic system in Turkey. The collection concentrates on social media use within social movements and applies interdisciplinary approaches and research methods, ranging from cinema and visual arts to sociology, political science, content analysis and ethnographic study.

Digital Transformations in Turkey analyzes the genesis, dynamics, and operations of different communication contexts in relation to digital transformations in Turkey. The contributors tackle such topics as the impact of social networking channels like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter and the changing dimensions of social, cultural, and political ideologies. Akdenizli offers a multifaceted and balanced discussion of the role and impact of communication technologies in a country with questionable and blatant freedom of expression violations. This collection will appeal to scholars of communication, new media, and technology in emerging markets.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is known for his populist Islamist ideology, charismatic personality, and for ushering in new forms of communication strategies in Turkey. The key tools in Erdogan's political communication repertoire include religious, cultural and historic symbols and imagery. From engaging Israel to the Gezi Park protests, from the Arab uprisings to the July 2016 coup attempt, every key moment in Turkey's recent history has heralded a change in Erdogan's rhetoric. Communication Strategies in Turkey examines the transformation of political messaging that has taken place within the Justice and Development Party (AKP) under Erdogan. Using quantitative and qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with high profile AKP officials, observations at AKP rallies and headquarters, and analysis of Erdogan's speeches from 2002 to 2019, the book shows how his method of communication changed over time to prioritise a “New Turkey” to replace Atatürk and his legacy.

"This book examines the influence of big companies in political institutions, the newsroom, and the classroom and its effect on every aspect of public and private life"--

Who controls the media today? There are many media systems across the globe that claim to be free yet whose independence has been eroded. As demagogues rise, independent voices have been squeezed out. Corporate-owned media companies that act in the service of power increasingly exercise soft censorship. Tech giants such as Facebook and Google have dramatically changed how people access information, with consequences that are only beginning to be felt. This book features pathbreaking analysis from journalists and academics of the changing nature and peril of media capture—how formerly independent institutions fall under the sway of governments, plutocrats, and corporations. Contributors including Emily Bell, Felix Salmon, Joshua Marshall, Joel Simon, and Nikki Usher analyze diverse cases of media capture worldwide—from the United Kingdom to Turkey to India and beyond—many drawn from firsthand experience. They examine the role played by new media companies and funders, showing how the confluence of the growth of big tech and falling revenues for legacy media has led to new forms of control. Contributions also shed light on how the rise of right-wing populists has catalyzed the crisis of global media. They also chart a way forward, exploring the growing need for a policy response and sustainable models for public-interest investigative journalism. Providing valuable insight into today’s urgent threats to media independence, Media Capture is essential reading for anyone concerned with defending press freedom in the digital age.

Journalism in Turkey has an ambivalent characteristic. On the one hand, the social demand for genuine journalism has increased, and on the other hand, news has turned into a tool within the polluted political polarization atmosphere. In the age of fake news and post-truth, practices of journalism in Turkey both contain significantly striking examples of how media professionals overcome the barriers and also give some clues about the changing nature of journalism. The book examines the deep crisis mainstream media experience in Turkey. New-born media institutions, alternatives, their start-up strategies, and transformation of journalism field are scrutinized by qualitative and quantitative methods. The book aims to present a current picture of journalism in Turkey by underlining both historical continuities and breaks from the tradition.

The study of politics in Turkey : new horizons and perennial pitfalls / Güneş Murat Tezcür -- Democratization theories and Turkey / Ekrem Karakoç -- Ruling ideologies in modern Turkey / Kerem Öktem -- Constitutionalism in Turkey / Aslı Ü. Bâli -- Civil-military relations and the demise of Turkish democracy / Nil S. Satana and Burak Bilgehan Özpek -- Capturing secularism in Turkey : the ease of comparison / Murat Akan -- The political economy of Turkey since the end of World War II / Şevket Pamuk -- Neoliberal politics in Turkey / Sinan Erensü and Yahya M. Madra -- The politics of welfare in Turkey / Erdem Yörük -- The political economy of environmental policymaking in Turkey : a vicious cycle / Fikret Adaman, Bengi Akbulut, and Murat Arsel -- The politics of energy in Turkey : running engines on geopolitical, discursive, and coercive power / Begüm Özkaynak, Ethemcan Turhan, and Cem İskender Aydın -- The contemporary politics of health in Turkey : diverse actors, competing frames, and uneven policies / Volkan Yılmaz -- Populism in Turkey : historical and contemporary patterns / Yüksel Taşkın -- Old and new polarizations and failed democratizations in Turkey / Murat Somer -- Economic voting during the AKP era in Turkey / S. Erdem Aytaç -- Party organizations in Turkey and their consequences for democracy / Melis G. Laebens -- The evolution of conventional political participation in Turkey / Ersin Kalaycıoğlu -- Symbolic politics and contention in the Turkish Republic / Senem Aslan -- Islamist activism in Turkey / Menderes Çınar -- The Kurdish movement in Turkey : understanding everyday perceptions and experiences / Dilan Okcuoglu -- The Transnational Mobilization of the Alevis of Turkey : from invisibility to the struggle for equality / Ceren Lord -- Politics of asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey : limits and prospects of populism / Fatih Resul Kılınç and Şule Toktaş -- A theoretical account of Turkish foreign policy under the AKP / Tarık Oğuzlu -- US-Turkey relations since WWII : from alliance to transactionalism / Serhat Güvenç and Soli Özel -- Turkey and Europe : historical asynchronicities and perceptual asymmetries / Hakan Yılmaz -- Turkey's foreign policy in the Middle East : an identity perspective / Lisel Hintz -- Turkey and Russia : historical patterns and contemporary trends in bilateral relations / Evren Balta and Mitat Çelikpala -- Citizenship and protest behavior in Turkey / Ayhan Kaya -- Gender politics and the struggle for equality in Turkey / Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat -- Human rights organizations in Turkey / Başak Çalı -- Truth, justice, and commemoration initiatives in Turkey / Onur Bakiner -- The politics of media in Turkey : chronicle of a stillborn media system / Sarphan Uzunoğlu -- The AKP's rhetoric of rule in Turkey : political melodramas of conspiracy from "ergenekon" to "mastermind" / Erdağ Göknar -- The transformation of political cinema in Turkey since the 1960s : a change of discourse / Zeynep Çetin-Erus and M. Elif Demoğlu -- Political music in Turkey : the birth and diversification of dissident and conformist music (1920-2000) / Mustafa Avcı.

In Media in New Turkey, Bilge Yesil unlocks the complexities surrounding and penetrating today's Turkish media. Yesil focuses on a convergence of global and domestic forces that range from the 1980 military coup to globalization's inroads and the recent resurgence of political Islam. Her analysis foregrounds how these and other forces become intertwined, and she uses Turkey's media to unpack the ever-more-complex relationships. Yesil confronts essential questions regarding: the role of the state and military in building the structures that shaped Turkey's media system; media adaptations to ever-shifting contours of political and economic power; how the far-flung economic interests of media conglomerates leave them vulnerable to state pressure; and the ways Turkey's politicized judiciary criminalizes certain speech. Drawing on local knowledge and a wealth of Turkish sources, Yesil provides an engrossing look at the fault lines carved by authoritarianism, tradition, neoliberal reform, and globalization within Turkey's increasingly far-reaching media.

This book presents an ethnographic study of social media in Mardin, a medium-sized town located in the Kurdish region of Turkey. The town is inhabited mainly by Sunni Muslim Arabs and Kurds, and has been transformed in recent years by urbanisation, Elisabetta Costa uses her 15 months of ethnographic research to explain why public-facing social media is more conservative than offline life. Yet, at the same time, social media has opened up unprecedented possibilities for private communications between genders and in relationships among young people – Costa reveals new worlds of intimacy, love and romance. She also discovers that, when viewed from the perspective of people’s everyday lives, political participation on social media looks very different to how it is portrayed in studies of political postings separated from their original complex, and highly socialised, context.neoliberalism and political events.