The Politics of Media in TurkeyChronicle of a Stillborn Media System

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the politics of media in Turkey and the formation of Turkey’s so-called new media order characterized by polarization, corporatization, widespread censorship, and lack of journalistic independence. It argues that Turkey’s ongoing media crisis arose due to structural transformations starting from the early 1980s and becoming more accelerated and visible under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The chapter discusses Turkey’s media crisis in three steps. Firstly, it contextualizes Turkey’s traditional media system within globally recognized media systems and provides a historical understanding of the impact of political elites and the government on the media industry. Secondly, it discusses shifts in media consumption habits and media ownership structure under AKP rule and shows how these shifts served the party’s political agenda. Finally, it offers a critical overview of several existing prescriptive approaches to Turkey’s media crisis and argues that techno-determinist and overgeneralizing approaches are incompatible with Turkey’s social reality.