Abstract:

In political communication processes, election campaigns are important for the high level of contact between voters and politicians. In the election campaign, political parties carry out some activities in order to reach the voters through various methods and influence the voters' decision. Media activities occupy an important place among these activities. The media has an important position in ensuring the flow of messages between the voter and the candidate/political party. In this framework, the purpose of the study is to determine the media use levels of the young population, the role of the media in the decision-making processes and to determine the relations between the information sources of the voters during the election periods. Within this study, during the March 31, 2019, Local Government Elections, the majority of those studying in Turkey in the age range of 17 and 26 550 university students face to face interviews were conducted for the application. With the application of the questionnaire, the influences of the participants with the media, political information sources, and voting preferences were measured during the election period. As a result of the study, it was determined that the internet and television among the information sources were among the media tools most followed by the youth during the election period, and social media was an important medium in the decision-making processes of the young population. At the same time, in the selection process, it was concluded that there is an interaction between the information obtained from the family and the immediate environment, which are among the traditional sources of information, and the information obtained from the media.

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