News Framing of Gezi Park Protests in Turkey
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Social Movements and Peace Journalism: News Framing of Gezi Park Protests in Turkey Engin Aluç Submitted to the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and Media Studies Eastern Mediterranean University September 2017 Gazimağusa, North Cyprus Approval of the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Hakan Ulusoy Acting Director I certify that this thesis satisfies the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and Media Studies. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Agah Gümüş Chair, Department of Communication and Media Studies We certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and Media Studies. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Metin Ersoy Supervisor Examining Committee 1. Prof. Dr. Aysel Aziz 2. Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan 3. Assoc. Prof. Metin Ersoy 4. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahire Efe Özad 5. Asst. Prof. Dr. Aysu Arsoy ABSTRACT The immediate aim of this research is to develop a novel Peace Journalism Model associated with the representations of social movements in the Turkish press. Newspapers addressing the case of the Gezi Park protests serve as the main focal point of the study. 14 daily newspapers from the Turkish press were examined with respect to their coverage of the Gezi Park protests from 28 May 2013 to 30 June 2013. The analysis centered on front pages and the publications of newspaper columnists. By examining the front pages and columnist publications, a quantitative framing analysis was conducted to illuminate the areas of headline formation, dominant frames, and official or unofficial sources usage. Regarding the front pages data were derived from an initial sample of 41 daily newspapers from the Turkish press. Regarding the columnist publications, 222 articles dating from 28 May 2013 to 7 June 2013 were obtained from the 5 most circulated Turkish newspapers and evaluated independently. Also, same 5 newspapers dating from 28 May 2013 to 30 June 2013 were been used for physical content analysis of photographs. The results indicate that the dominant frames used in the 14 newspapers when covering the Gezi Park protests were conflict and information frames; the preferred form was quotation form; and official sources were most the most prevalent source type in front page news stories and column articles. iii An interpretation of these results in terms of Peace Journalism, Gatekeeping Theory, and Framing Theory suggests that the coverage of peace-oriented news pertaining to social movements in the Turkish news media is insufficient. Keywords: Peace Journalism, Social Movements, News Framing, Gezi Park protests iv ÖZ Bu araştırmanın amacı Türk basınında toplumsal hareketlerin temsili ile bağlantılı yeni bir barış gazeteciliği modeli geliştirmektir. Gezi Parkı protestoları bağlamında gazeteler, araştırmanın ana odak noktasını oluşturuyor. 28 Mayıs 2013'ten 30 Haziran 2013'e kadar olan Gezi Parkı protestoları bağlamında 14 günlük gazete incelendi, ön sayfalar ve gazete köşe yazarlarının yayınları üzerine analizler yapıldı. Ön sayfalar ve köşe yazıları incelenerek, başlık oluşturma, baskın çerçeveler ve resmi veya gayri resmi kaynak kullanımı alanlarını aydınlatmak için niceliksel bir çerçeveleme analizi yapıldı. Ön sayfalarla ilgili olarak, 28 Mayıs 2013'ten 30 Haziran 2013'e kadar olan 14 gazete, Türk basınından 41 gazete evreninden seçildi. Köşe yazılarıyla ilgili, 28 Mayıs 2013 - 7 Haziran 2013 tarihleri arasında yayınlanan 222 yazı, tirajı en yüksek 5 Türk gazetesinden elde edildi ve ilk sayfalardan bağımsız olarak değerlendirildi. 28 Mayıs 2013 ve 30 Haziran 2013 tarihleri arasında yayınlanan aynı 5 gazete, fotoğrafların fiziksel içerik analizi için kullanıldı. Elde edilen sonuçlar, 14 gazetede Gezi Parkı protestolarını kapsayan baskın çerçevelerin çatışma ve bilgilendirme çerçeveleri olduğunu gösteriyor; Tercih edilen başlık şekli alıntılama biçimindeydi; ve resmi kaynaklar en çok ön sayfa haberlerinde ve köşe yazılarında yaygın kaynak türü olarak belirlendi. v Bu sonuçlar barış gazeteciliği, eşik bekçiliği teorisi ve çerçeveleme teorisi açısından yorumlandı, Türk basınındaki toplumsal hareketlerle ilgili barış yanlısı haberlerin kapsamının yetersiz olduğu ortaya koyuldu. Anahtar Kelimeler: Barış Gazeteciliği, Sosyal Hareketler, Haber Çerçeveleme, Gezi Park Protestoları vi to my family vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Many scholars have contributed to this study. My supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Metin Ersoy who always positively supported me and shared knowledge with me at the conferences I attended with regard to my dissertation. In addition, he has read my dissertation many times and responded quickly. I would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Metin Ersoy for his endless support and guidance. I would also like to thank my thesis monitoring committee members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahire Efe Özad and Asst. Prof. Dr. Aysu Arsoy for their invaluable contribution. I would also like to thank my former supervisor Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan for his contribution in the beginning of this dissertation. He believed and supported me from the beginning of this thesis. I would like to thank my colleagues Mehmet Balyemez, Nazlı Köksal, Mert Yusuf Özlük, Can Bekcan, Safiye Bağkur, Yunus Luckinger, Fikri Yurtsev, Bahrican Yenikurtuluş who supported my diligence and motivation from the beginning of this study. Special thanks go to my wife Ece Aluç, my son Karan Rüzgar Aluç, for supporting me from the very beginning. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iii ÖZ ................................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ viii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. xiv 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Study .................................................................................... 2 1.2 Motivation of the Study ...................................................................................... 3 1.3 Problem of the Study .......................................................................................... 3 1.5 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 6 1.6 Significance of the Study ................................................................................... 7 1.7 Limitation of the Study ....................................................................................... 8 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................ 9 2.1 Peace Journalism .............................................................................................. 10 2.1.2 Recent Peace Journalism Research ............................................................ 16 2.2 Gatekeeping Theory ......................................................................................... 20 2.3 Framing Theory ................................................................................................ 22 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 25 3.1 Social Movements, Civil Disobediences & Media........................................... 26 3.1.1 Relevant Civil Disobediences around the World ....................................... 28 3.1.2 New Social Movements and Civil Disobediences ..................................... 29 3.2 New Social Movements in Turkey: Gezi Park Protest ..................................... 31 3.2.1 Chronology of Gezi Park Protests ............................................................. 32 ix 3.2.2 Symbols of Gezi Protests ........................................................................... 35 3.2.3 Identification of Gezi Park Protests ........................................................... 37 3.2.4 Relevant Researches about Gezi Protests in Literature ............................. 38 3.3 Structure of the Turkish Media ........................................................................ 52 3.3.1 Conglomeration of the Turkish Media ...................................................... 52 3.3.2 Categorization of Turkish Media ............................................................... 55 3.3.4 Turkish Newspapers and the Mediterranean Model Journalism ............... 61 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 65 4.1 Research Design ............................................................................................... 67 4.2 Population and Sample ..................................................................................... 68 4.3 Instruments and Data Gathering Procedures .................................................... 69 4.5 Reliability Test ................................................................................................. 69 4.4 Research Procedures ........................................................................................