Abstract:

2002 General Elections caused serious changes in our political history while political advertisements have become the most effective tool of the election process. In this period, parties and candidates aimed to influence the preferences of the voters and persuade them to vote for them with their political advertisements. From this point of view, in this election, as in every election, political advertisements were used extensively in various mass media, especially in newspapers. The aim of this study which discussed political advertisements in newspapers was to review the advertisements of political parties published in newspapers with different publication policies in the General Elections of November 3rd 2002, and also to determine the type of these advertisements and what subjects they focus on. This study that had a descriptive approach is important in terms of dealing with the advertisements used in the campaigns of various political parties in the center-right and left comparatively in this election process, which is the beginning of a new single-party ruling period in Turkish political history. This paper also used the content analysis method to analyze the advertisements of the leading parties of the period were Motherland Party (ANAP), True Path Party (DYP), Democratic Left Party (DSP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Republican People's Party (CHP) and also The Young Party (GP), which was founded before these elections and left its mark on the elections published in the sample of Hurriyet, Sabah, Radikal, and Yeni Safak newspapers, which have different publishing policies in the national press universe, between 15-26 October 2002. As a result of the archive scanning for the relevant newspapers, while a total of 94 political advertisements which were related to political parties had been reached, there was a balance between positive and negative advertisements and the domestic politics and economy issues were the prominent topics. 

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