Özet:

The political communication phenomenon, defined as the combination of politics and communication disciplines, is a theoretical concept that has a direct effect on determining political ideologies, decisions, and preferences of individuals in terms of social life practice. The mass communication, in other words, "the media", is the most important source to communicate all kinds of political information to the masses. The main function of the media, in societies where democracy prevails, is to create public opinion and to influence the political attitude and opinions of the public. Political communication studies gain importance in election periods as a social phenomenon, especially in democratic societies. In particular, the news media plays a determining role in the political decisions of the electorate by transmitting political messages produced by power holders and top decision makers during elections. This paper aims to analyze the topics and tone of the news directly about the election, voters’ attitudes towards political parties and actors during one-month election campaigns before the General Elections and the Early General Elections in 2015 and to examine the findings in terms of comparative political communication. The study includes the Republic, Hürriyet, and Sabah newspapers by taking into consideration the publishing policies and political trends they represent. Findings confirm that all three newspapers had different attitudes towards the political parties and also suggest the existence of differences in terms of categories discussed and analyzed between the two election periods.

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