Abstract:

In this study, the way the political campaign process of referendum, held on September 12 (2010), was represented in the Turkish press is analyzed. From 1 to 13 September, the news about the referendum in the newspapers is analyzed through the technique of content and discourse analysis. Evrensel (a sample of radical left), Cumhuriyet (a sample of central left), Hürriyet/ Sabah/ Bugün (three samples of the mainstream newspapers), Zaman (a sample of pro-Islamist press) and Yeniçağ (a sample of ultra-right nationalist movement) were chosen as a sample of Turkish press. This study is based on the assumption that the content of newspapers are determined by the context of political economy of the conditions in which they operate, and their ideological orientations. Accordingly Evrensel, Cumhuriyet, and Yeniçağ have a critical standpoint towards the government’s approach and in their news texts they advice to their reader to vote for “No” in the referendum poll. But three newspapers, mentioned above, have different ideological rationale in their news texts in accordance with their ideological orientations. Accordingly, daily Evrensel, the sample of radical left, took the position in the news texts about the referendum process in accordance with the interest of labour class. Daily Cumhuriyet, the sample of left of the center or Kemalist left, focused on the changes in the structure of supreme court and the ideological changes in the structure of Turkish Republic, which constitutional amandment will bring. Daily Yeniçağ with an ultranationalist reflex, claims in the news texts that as a result of referendum poll the country would be divided and free Kurdistan would be announced in the South-east part of Turkey. In contrary to these critical standpoint, daily Hürriyet, daily Sabah, daily Bugün (three samples of mainsream newspapers in Turkey) and (pro-Islamist) daily Zaman supported the arguments of government that in the country there was a military guardianship and with the referendum, the country would be more democratic and as a result of democratization, the amount of foreign capital in the country would increase which would result in a rise in prosperity. Accordingly, the last four newspapers mentioned above, supported and reproduced the dominant discourse of the government. To sum up, the assumption that the context of political economy of press, which directs the ideological orientation of the newspaper, determine the content and discourse of newspapers, was confirmed.

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