The Political Economy of Media in Turkey

Abstract

This study examines the infrastructural features of the media industry in Turkey in the 2000s. The study posits that the analysis of the inner workings of the media as an industrial-social institution is a way of understanding how the media is related with the overall system it is a part of. In order to do that, it is crucial to undertake the infrastructural mapping of the media. In this study, the dimensions of the media industry such as the branches of economic activity, geographical distribution, corporate structures and scales, employment, wages, gender distribution, and unionization levels are discussed as the basic indicators forming the infrastructure of the media industry. The datasets which the study is based on are taken from the NACE codes, which are used in the statistical classification of economic activities in Europe and are also valid for Turkey. The boundaries of media industry are defined through six basic branches of economic activity classified in NACE 18, 58, 59, 60, 63,73 codes and these fields of activity are discussed both by themselves and as a relational whole.