Özet:

In this study, using the "Propaganda Model" published by Herman and Chomsky regarding the political economy of the news, the functionality of the model, which has not yet been applied on economic news in the nationa literature, is tested on the basis of economic growth and national income news. The source structure, which is the third filter of the model was expanded and used in the study, taking into account the discussions in the literature regarding the model and the characteristics of the economic data that are frequently used in economic news. This expansion involves three stages: the external rhetoric that makes the headlines, news areas and visual usage features of the news visible; internal rhetoric that makes the structural features of resources, use of space, labour structure and the structural features of the economic data used comprehensible; and the analysis of discourses produced towards power and economic policies. The model was tested on Hürriyet and Sabah, two big mass newspapers with sales of more than 50,000, and Cumhuriyet, which stands out for its opinion journalism, between 2003 and 2012. All the economic growth and national income news published by the newspapers in a 10-year period and obtained via the full count method from the archive scanning were examined. Findings related to internal and external rhetoric and discourse structure were obtained through the content analysis method. Internal and external rhetoric findings were analysed according to their frequency and rates, and discourses were analysed using the "Ideological Functioning Model" developed by John Thompson. As a result of the research, it was determined that Hürriyet and Sabah newspapers reveal the characteristics of the first two filters of the Propaganda Model, with media and non-media ownership concentrations, and the large amounts of the spaces allocated to advertisements in full-page and economy pages, while Cumhuriyet newspaper cannot be included in this classification due to its low dependency rate on advertisements and the almost absence of media and non-media ownership concentration. It was observed that positive or neutral contents dominate the news production of these two different types of journalism, which have economically different characteristics, in the discourses on domestic and foreign rhetoric, power and economic policies, while the newspaper Cumhuriyet is characterized by critical and negative discourses. As a result, it was concluded that ownership-power relations and commitment to advertising affect the structural features and production of news.