Abstract:

Terrorism is a symbolic act carried out with the aim of creating fear over people and is based on violence. The reflection on the media of terrorist acts occurring in every period of human history differs according to the publication policies that the media organizations have adopted. This difference occurs in the language and speech used in terrorist news in the process of public information. In this context, the resolution of the speech that arises with the use of the preferred language in the communication of terrorist actions is important in terms of understanding the language and the influence of the policy of the newspaper broadcasting on the news. The aim of this study is to reveal the influence of the editorial policies of media organizations that communicate to different political preferences on the language of news and speech in the process of communication of terrorist acts. In this context, the main topic of the study is how the news in the written press about the armed terrorist attack on two mosques during Friday prayer in New Zealand on 15 March 2019 was presented to the reader and how a speech was developed. In this regard, between March 16 and March 23, 2019, the publication policies differ from each other, the Republic, the National Gazette, the Middle East, the Speaker, the New Akit and the New Dawn. The headlines, contents, images and views of the newspapers about the incident were analyzed by the method of the statement analysis systematised by Teun van Dijk. The research has found that the importance of the same incident, which was in newspapers with different perspectives, with different speaking patterns, was shortly reduced.

Abstract:

Terrorism, fundamentally, is a symbolic action that aims to incite fear in people. The terrorist actions that have occurred throughout the history of humanity has been reflected in media in various ways based on the editorial policies that are adopted by media organizations. The diversity in media transpires in the process of informing the society through the terrorism-related news, in terms of the language and discourse. In this context, the analysis of the discourse that arises with use of preferred language in the reporting of terrorist acts is important for understanding the effect of newspaper publishing policies on the language and discourse of the news. The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of editorial policies of media organizations reporting on different political preferences on news language and discourse in the process of reporting terrorist acts. In this respect, how the news that took place in the print press about the armed terrorist attacks carried out at two mosques during Cum’a prayer in New Zealand on 15 March 2019 were presented to the readers and how the discourses were developed form the topic of the current study. Accordingly, the 6 newspapers, whose editorial policies differed between 16th and 23rd March 2019, were chosen: Yeni Akit, Orta Doğu, Yeni Şafak, Milli Gazete, Sözcü and Cumhuriyet. The front-page news about the incident that took place in the selected newspapers were analyzed in terms of their headlines, contents and the point of view depending on van Dijk’s discourse analysis method. As a result of the study, it’s found that the same incident was reported in various discourse patterns in newspapers whose point of views were different than each other’s. As a result of the research, it was found that the same event was communicated with different discourse patterns in the newspapers with different perspectives, and the importance of the press about the event decreased in a short time.

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