Research Note: Tabloidization of News Media

An Analysis of Television News in Turkey

j Mine Gencel Bek

A B S T R A C T

j This article explores the issue of tabloidization of news in the Turkish

context by analysing the news texts of four commercial television channels
and one public service channel. The analysis looks at how actors and
themes are represented, framed and focused and how language is used,
both quantitatively and qualitatively. The article argues that the news
personalizes and tabloidizes politics. The two main actors in the news on
the commercial channels are the poor and ordinary people with their
tragedies and misfortunes and the rich with their wealth, gossip and
glamorous lifestyle, while the public service channel mainly represents
parliamentary actors, especially those in government. j
Key Words media content, news media, political communication,
tabloidization, Turkish television

The interrelated concepts of tabloidization and infotainment have

recently become the focus of researchers in media studies. In their
historical study, McLachlan and Golding (2000) show that tabloidization
is characterized by fewer international news stories, more pictures, less
text, more human interest and entertainment news stories and less
political or parliamentary news. In a sense, tabloidization is an advanced
form of infotainment with the dimension of the incorporation of
entertainment in informative programmes (Brants and Neijens, 1998).
Mine Gencel Bek is a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication at Ankara
sm Fakultesi,

University, Ankara Universitesi

Ileti

Cebeci 06590, Ankara,

Turkey [email: Mine.Gencel@media.ankara.edu.tr].
European Journal of Communication Copyright 2004 SAGE Publications
(London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com,
Vol 19(3): 371386. [10.1177/0267323104045264]

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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 19(3)

According to Sparkss (2000: 10) definition, infotainment is one of the

two features of tabloidization.
As a reaction to warnings against the tendency towards tabloidization, more cautious or even optimistic views have become salient in the
last few years. One of the main sources cited has been the work of Fiske
(1992), who argues that unlike the official journalism of the power bloc,
tabloid journalism can criticize dominant understandings, be subversive,
offer an alternative reality to the official one, and even embody
emancipation from poverty. Van Zoonen (1998: 188) agrees with Fiske
and talks about tabloid journalisms potential to criticize hegemonic
norms and values. Bird (2000: 216) argues that tabloidization can be a
good thing as it makes some issues visible which would not be so
otherwise. In a study on a German tabloid newspaper, Klein (2000: 192)
similarly argues that citizens are excluded from participation and
decision-making in the public sphere, which is inhabited by experts. In
this context, she attributes the news in Bild with facilitating representative participatory political activity. Bild popularizes politics and reaches
people who would otherwise avoid politics. Thus, the newspaper has the
function of preventing people from being completely detached from the
political world. However, it is hard to guess from Kleins analysis what
would happen if Bild did not exist; that is, we do not know whether
readers would completely detach themselves from politics or whether
they would find another, maybe less facile, but better quality option.
Also, we should take into account the fact that tabloid newspapers do not
convey only factual, political information, but also, and to a greater
extent, comments and opinions which may sometimes include racist and
sexist ideologies. Thus, it is hard to reconcile ourselves with the notion
that tabloid newspapers give political information.
According to Sparks (2000: 25), At its strongest, the defence of the
tabloid takes the form of a celebration of its content as the site of popular
opposition to the dominant order. The defenders of tabloids imply that
those who claim tabloidization is dangerous for political citizenship and
democracy are opposed to popular culture. For example, Turner claims
that It has to be admitted that many of the concerns expressed about the
influence of tabloidization are grounded in a conventional and longstanding hostility to popular culture itself (Turner, 1999: 63). It is also
argued that critics of tabloidization, who talk of the infotainment scare,
are fervent supporters of public service broadcasting (Brants, 1998:
316).
The optimism of these researchers on the issue of infotainment and
tabloidization might be related to the kind of questions asked. In fact,
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BEK: TABLOIDIZATION OF NEWS MEDIA

Brants asks whether infotainment has become a structural phenomenon

and whether it has changed the coverage of politics systematically and
whether all this means a proof of a crisis in political communications
role in democracy (Brants, 1998: 316). Brants point might be better
understood if we read his conclusion that tabloid television news . . . is
still practically absent in Europe (Brants, 1998: 323). This is meaningful
when compared with the US. As Hallin (1994: 1023) argues, televisions
cynicism in its praise for the wisdom of the common man versus the
politician is part of American culture. It might be too early to worry
about whether the media in Europe are framed in this way. On the other
hand, we can ask another question, which is whether we should wait to
see if infotainment has become a structural phenomenon and is
systematically changing the content. If so, would it not be too late to
solve the crisis of political communication? The fact that news
programmes retain their importance and most are still covering politics
should not be a complete relief to us. These are essentials of political
communication, anyway. It seems to me that these researchers underestimate the issue of infotainment and tabloidization because of the
priority they give to popular culture. However, popular culture and
politics do not have to be separate. Media researchers do not have to
locate themselves in one or other of the camps, because, here, the issue
criticized is not politics being popular but more about it losing its
content and being tabloidized. Research done by Brants and Neijens
(1998) concludes that, during the Dutch elections of 1994, most of the
politicians appeared on informative and news programmes rather than
infotainment or entertainment programmes. This is something to be
expected during election time. Since politics is not limited to election
periods, one also has to look at how politics is represented at other times.
Also, just because politics is represented in news programmes does not
necessarily mean that the coverage is serious and informative. Therefore,
searching for infotaining elements in news content is an important area of
work.
Peck (2000: 2323) classifies the views on tabloidization as critical
modernist and critical postmodernist perspectives. While the modernist
perspective is conceived as the ideal role attributed to the media as
providing information to people (conceived foremost as citizens ) and
as the viable element of the public sphere, the critical postmodernist
perspective considers
. . . the particularization of public issues as a corrective to the
universalising, impersonal, abstract modes of address and forms of
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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 19(3)

information associated with traditional media. . . . In this view, tabloid

media are more inclusive, participatory, and democratic than official media,
through their incorporation of the voices and experiences of social groups
historically banished from media representation. (Peck, 2000: 233)

If we start with the last claim, including and showing other voices
might be a good development versus underrepresentation or total
exclusion, but the media can use these other views in a sensationalist way
and exploit them. Second, researchers who criticize tabloidization and
consider it dangerous for democracy are not necessarily modernist nor do
they necessarily accept the main theoretical support of modernism
unconditionally (for example, see Golding, 1995). The dichotomous
models suggested are not appropriate because the academics quoted as
being representative of these approaches are not complete defenders of the
position, and even go on to question it (see Gripsrud, 2000: 298). In
addition, even though the theoretical stance we take affects the way we
look at reality, it should not determine our positions on the issue of
tabloidization. Instead, specific research in specific contexts is needed to
develop and enrich theoretical perspectives.
The Turkish mediascape and tabloidization
Why has tabloidization become one of the main concerns of critical media
researchers? What are the reasons for tabloidization and for the public
choosing these products? There are different answers to these questions.
According to Sparks, the main reason is the separation of political and
economic power from the actual lives of the ordinary people in the
countries where there is a stable bourgeois democracy: the more stable
and established a bourgeois democracy is the less interest the mass of the
population will have in its workings and the more apolitical and trivial
the popular press will become (Sparks, 1988: 217).
This idea is not valid in the Turkish case, however, if we accept that
Turkish democracy is not a stable democracy as defined by Sparks. In
fact, it is exactly the instability of democracy that may bring about
depoliticization. Specifically, after the third military coup, of 12
September 1980, a major depoliticization process ended all political
activities and organizations and restricted freedom of expression in
Turkey. The public were discouraged from discussing politics and
encouraged to focus more on religion and popular culture, especially
football and the sensationalist press. These were considered to be the
antidote to leftist militancy.
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The first examples of the tabloidization of the news in Turkey were

seen in the boulevard press in the 1960s, when big capital entered the
press sector (Uslu, 2001: 4). Oktay (1993) outlines three periods in the
history of the tabloid press. The first period is 192350, when literature
and art were given more importance. The second is 195070, when
popular culture started its ascent in contrast to the earlier period. With
the DP (Democrat Party) government during the 1950s, the American
way of life became dominant. The intense interest in peoples private
lives, according to Oktay, stems from then. In the third period, 197090,
the number of pornographic magazines published increased, television
culture came to dominate, art became commodified with the sponsorship
of big capital, and lifestyle magazines boomed, on food, entertainment,
holidays, home styling, fashion and so on, disseminating the ideology of
consumerism. In a sense, the scope and the intensity of what Oktay
describes for the 197090 period have increased since the 1990s. Now,
we see all this consumerism and concern with lifestyle not only in the
magazines, but in the newspapers as well. The number of columnists who
write about dining, travel, fashion, etc. is rapidly increasing.
The issue of tabloidization can be analysed further by focusing on
the televole programmes in Turkey (a very specific genre, principally
featuring celebrity gossip) compared to news programmes. We even talk
about the televolelesme (in Turkish) of television by using the terms televole
and tabloid synonymously. These programmes feature celebrities entertaining, demonstrating their wealth and so on. This issue was politicized
and widely discussed after the under-secretary of the Turkish National
Milli Istihbarat

Intelligence Department (MIT,

Teskilat) announced in a
meeting in 2002 with top-ranking media people his great concern that
televole-type programmes would create major tensions in society by
fomenting deep resentment and anger at an unconscious level among the
masses, whose lives are blighted by severe deprivation, especially since
the most recent economic crisis, and that this resentment could even push
the masses towards communism.
The issue of the tabloidization of the news, which has been observed
since 1990 when commercial television channels started to appear, has
not been studied much in Turkey. One notable exception is the study by
Ergul
(2000), who describes the tabloidization of the news in two ways:
tabloidization (magazinlesme as he describes it in Turkish) first means an
increase of less newsworthy elements in the news bulletins; second, it
means that popular and tabloid elements of secondary importance in the
news are consciously or unconsciously placed in the foreground and the
news content increasingly deviates from its real source (Ergul,
2000:
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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 19(3)

1112). Contrary to Ergul,

I do not relate the tabloidization of news with
the structural characteristics of the television medium, its language or
technology, since I assume that tabloidization is not something that
derives from the nature of the medium and things can be done differently
even on television. Instead, tabloidization is the outcome of the
characteristics of the current media industry: especially the fierce
competition between big media groups for ratings, the low investment in
experienced employees and the consequent decrease in investigative
reporting. Even though Ergul
describes his aim as to analyse the tendency
towards tabloidization in the main news bulletins on the Turkish
commercial channels, he does not do an empirical study himself. Rather,
he discusses the issue from a theoretical perspective and relies on the
(Radio and Television Authority in Turkey) for
research from the RTUK
his empirical data.
The remainder of this article discusses the findings of a textual
analysis carried out by the present author.
Research findings
The main news bulletins of the four commercial television channels (Star
TV, ATV, Show TV, Channel D)1 and the public service channel TRT-1
(Turkish Radio Television) were recorded and analysed during a single,
random week (1117 March 2002).2 The analysis looked at both the
formal characteristics and the content of the news texts. However, here
the findings on content are discussed by looking at how actors and
themes are represented, framed and focused on and how language is used
both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Themes: What is the news about?

Table 1 shows the number of times themes appeared in the news items in
the sample. It can be seen that on the commercial television channels
news about crime events occurs frequently, as do items about popular
culture and celebrities mostly women models, singers or film stars. The
low proportion of news coverage on the economy may be explained by the
fact that the economy has become a special subject which is covered in
detail by experts in special finance bulletins. There is even a special
channel, CNBC-e, dedicated to economic and financial news broadcasting
through the entire day. The news channels CNN-Turk
and NTV both
allocate special slots for financial news bulletins apart from the news
programmes. It is also striking that a category high culture or art does
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BEK: TABLOIDIZATION OF NEWS MEDIA

Table 1 Themes: What is the news about?

Star
TV

ATV

Accidents/disasters
Crime

1
16

4
20

Politics

28

32

Economy
Sports
Popular culture and celebrities

7
6
13

2
6
22

Human interest

12

Peculiar/bizarre incidents/people
Other themes

2
9
83

Total

Channel Show
D
TV

TRT-1 Total

1
19

9
90

15

182

3
40

7
7
8
3

15

39

2
15

3
3
3
3
0
6
9
2
2
1
1
4
3

3
8

1
6

11
51

115

121

104

106

529

23
27
97

not exist in the news analysed. Unlike economic news, these themes are
not allocated much space as distinct slots.
Personalization and tabloidization of politics During the analysis, it was
necessary not to undermine the importance of the news on celebrities or
personal events by thinking that these can also convey political meanings.
Even though politics is personalized in the news, the reverse is not the
case; thus, the personal is not politicized in the news items analysed.
The problem with the commercial channels is not only the low
proportion of political news coverage (for example, there is not a single
news item on politics on the Show TV bulletin of 14 March), but also
related to the tabloidization of politics. The personalization of politics can
be seen in the news items that focus on the human dimension of
politicians. But then this style of reporting becomes almost inseparable
from that of the paparazzi chasing after celebrities.
Politics is the predominant theme on TRT-1. However, it is hard to
conclude that the Turkish public service broadcasting channel serves the
public sphere in Turkey any better than the commercial ones. In fact,
when we look at the content of the news and how politics is portrayed, it
could be argued that the news on TRT-1 has become a forum for
parliamentary protocol. Predominantly, the activities of the ruling party
receive coverage first, followed then by news on the opposition parties (in
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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 19(3)

proportion to their representation in parliament). In general, the reports

are quite bland accounts of cabinet meetings. There is no setting of
context, interpretation, discussion or criticism. TRT just reports that
such and such politicians met, in a formulaic way. The news gives no
other information such as who else talked in the meeting, who said what,
what the main aim of the meeting was, etc.
What TRT does achieve, however, is full coverage of all the national
ceremonies, reminding the public of national history from the perspective
of the official memory. One could call TRT news the news of the nationstate.
Self-promotional news and the political economy of the media Academic study
of journalism and popular culture discusses how television news is related
to the overall television programme flow and is even embedded in our
cultures overall relationships with the television medium (Dahlgren,
1992: 11). The year 1990 saw the end of TRTs state monopoly in
broadcasting through deregulation (Sahin and Aksoy, 1993: 34) and was
a turning point for the media in Turkey. Media companies have since
expanded to many different sectors including not only newspapers,
television, publishing, news agencies, distribution and marketing but
also banking, finance and trade. The media owners business involvement
in the other sectors has even affected the news content. As Sonmez (1996:
76) argues, the big media groups in Turkey gain power through the
media and use them as a weapon of defence or attack against rivals. It
can be seen from Table 2 that television news is used by these groups to
advertise both their media-related and non-media-related products and
services. On Turkish television news, promotion of their other television
programmes, mainly domestically produced serials, or using the newspapers they own as news sources is commonplace. Even TRT has three
such news items in the week analysed since TRT must now compete with
the commercial channels. While the latter mostly advertise serials or
game shows, TRT flags its documentaries and its fictional output on its
promotional news slots with slogans like A documentary to satisfy a TRT
audience who deserves the best. These self-promotions also show how
TRT compares itself to and, at the same time, competes with the
commercial channels: the only place for quality broadcasting: TRT;
another programme to break ratings records (14 March), and so on.

Show TV news promotes its presenters other programmes, Itiraflar

and Ates Hatt, for example. On its 14 March news programme ATV
announced that ATV has been chosen as the best news bulletin by the
Radio and Television Journalists Association awards, and an ATV serial,
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Table 2 The number of self-promotional news items

Star
TV

ATV

Channel Show
D
TV

TRT-1 Total

Other media businesses/

companies/programmes/
newspapers
Other non-media products/
services
Other products/services

19

10

47

Total

25

12

2
7

10

4
3

57

which also received an award, was promoted as well. Television channels

also broadcast news about the media groups other businesses as well as
other groups with whom they have close ties. For example, the ATV news
on 11 March has a report on Sabanc, one of the richest industrialists in
Turkey. The opening of Berke Dam on 16 March becomes the main news
item of the day on Star TV and coverage takes up one hour since the
owner of the channel, the Uzan group, is also the contractor of the
project. These self-promos are not unique to Star TV. The reverse is the
case as well. That is, the rival companies channels also cover such news
but from an ironic perspective. That competing companies can reflect
their rivalry even in the news is commonplace in Turkish media. For
example, on 13 March Channel D news also covers the news on the Uzan
groups Berke Dam, but focuses on how the opening was delayed five
years and the harm done to both the state and the environment.

Actors: who is doing the talking?

As can be seen in Table 3, celebrities and private citizens (i.e. unaffiliated

or unconnected to any public body or politics) are by and large the main
actors on the commercial channels news. Most of the celebrities are
women. When they are men (three occurrences on Show TV), the focus is
on the women with whom they are having a relationship. As shown in
Table 1, there is almost no news coverage on peoples private lives or
popular culture on TRT news. Private citizens and celebrities rarely
appear on this channel. As discussed earlier, on the other hand, the
political news coverage on TRT tends to focus on the government and the
prime minister. It has even been argued that TRT is not so much the
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Table 3 Actors in the news

Star
TV
Politicians (Turkish)
Foreign politicians
Experts
Celebrities
Private citizens
Military
Police
NGO/civil society organizations/
associations
Journalists
Other
Total

34

4
17
28
3

ATV

Channel Show
D
TV

TRT-1 Total

34

13
33
32
4
2
4

22
8
9
17
65
2

12
16
14
59
39
1
1

114
11
2
1
2
10
4
7

216
35
42
127
166
20
7
17

18

22

4
13

6
7

10
63

104

144

146

155

154

703

voice of the state as that of the government, in terms of its news coverage
(Aziz, 1993: 59). Table 3 also shows how important the activities of the
military are. Every activity or foreign visit of the National Security
Council or Turkish armed forces is news, without exception. This limited
arena of politics is also visible through the identities of the NGO and
civil society organizations given coverage on TRT. In the sample
analysed, the actors tend not to be members of the political opposition.
The amount of coverage allocated to private citizens should not lead
to the optimistic conclusion that the events are framed not only through
the eyes of experts but also linked with the importance events have for
people who experience them on a daily basis. In fact, the number of
experts as subjects of the news analysed is still low. This is related to a
dominant tendency in the news production process. For example, in the
news coverage on some children who fell in a well, all the commercial
channels did interviews with the parents and neighbours of the children,
while they did not feel the need to interview representatives of local
government or other relevant people or institutions. They did not
investigate the reasons behind the accident, nor did coverage tend to lead
to any policy changes. The tragedies of ordinary people in the news are
presented in all their misery. What is at stake here is the personalization
and dramatization of events for the sake of ratings but without the need
to cover the main elements of the news such as who, what, where, when,
how and why.
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Discussion
This last section summarizes the main findings of research and also tries
to make broader interpretations of the results of our analysis. As
described at the beginning of the article, tabloidization of the news
means less coverage of international stories, little attention to politics and
the economy but more to human interest and entertainment news stories,
sport, scandal, peoples private lives. The news analysed from the
commercial television channels exhibits all these features attributed to
tabloidization, in terms of both form and content. The content dimension
of tabloidization, as discussed in this article, has a tendency towards
personalization and tabloidization of politics. While the news analysed
does not politicize the personal, it foregrounds the human side of
politicians, which may lead to an illusion that there is no difference
between politicians, whose actual policy views are not covered. The
reporting adopted in this news is not the investigative type; it does not
attempt to investigate why and how an event happened or what the social
context or solutions are. If the private media were critical about current
politics as the fourth estate, it would need to adopt such an
understanding. Instead, the mentality here can be described as the
exploitation of feelings since there is no investigation, no question of
why even in the coverage of tragic events and disasters that happen to
ordinary people.
Celebrities, mostly women, are judged more newsworthy actors
than politicians in the news analysed. Thus, the private sphere takes
precedence over the public. As seen in our analysis, it is news on
celebrities (the especially remarkable) and ordinary people (the victims)
which forms the bulk of Turkish commercial television news coverage,
not the story types of the other news which cater for genuine human
needs, the excluded or minorities, as described by Langer (1998). Were
these channels to be taken into consideration in isolation, to give some
idea about the society, it would seem as though there were just two
groups of people: the poor with their tragedies and misfortunes, and the
rich, with their wealth, gossip and glamorous lifestyles. That is
meaningful in a society where inequitable income distribution is
increasing and classes are polarizing. As mentioned earlier, the National
Intelligence Service urged the media to control itself through fear of a
social backlash. Maybe there will be no social lacklash, however, due to
the television news style, despite what the National Intelligence Service
fears. In fact, the channels not only show the luxurious lives of the rich
and famous, but also emphasize the idea that there is nothing to be done,
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there is nothing politics can do. The effect of the news on the audience
needs to be explored in further research.
Televisions use of private citizens should not be confused with civic
or public journalism3 that goes beyond professional principles and
produces solutions for the people by relying on their everyday experience.
As Murdock (1999: 15) argues, what is at stake here as a result of the raw
testimonies of experience replacing the expertise can be conceived as the
political economy of populism and political economy of commercialism.
How can the tabloidization of the news be explained? What are the
reasons for it? In Turkey, the issue is being discussed under the concept
of the journalistic ethic. The violations are considered to be the personal
fault of particular journalists; an ethical violation, rather than being
evaluated broadly as a product of the structural characteristics, mainly the
competition-driven media industry (Carey, 1987: 48; apl, 2002: 216).
What McLachlan and Golding (2000: 88) argue in the British case is true
for the Turkish case as well: it is related more to a broader shift in the
political economy of the communications and information industries than
to a transient loss of professional direction in one of its occupational
spheres. As seen in the analysis, television news becomes a base for the
big media groups to promote their other businesses and compete with
their rivals. They can use the power of the media irresponsibly. There are
professional violations including inconsistent, even fake news, in reporting. All these are not simply related to journalists ethical violations, but
more to the industrys fierce competition in the ratings war. The current
media industry in Turkey is so focused on maximizing its profit that it
does not even allow journalists to be members of a trade union.
What are the alternatives? Can the public service channel TRT-1
news be a democratic alternative to the commercial channels news
reporting? Even though, as a form, the news on TRT is not sensationalist
or tabloidized like the commercial channels, TRT in its current form is
not an alternative since its protocol news style limits politics to
parliamentary activities, giving the public just the basic information
about the government, free of any criticism. This situation, deriving from
the political culture (Mutlu, 1999: 26), leaves Turkey in a more sensitive
position compared to many European countries where the public service
broadcasting channels are strong, and, like the BBC, relatively more
democratic than TRT, which has no autonomy. TRT finds itself in a more
difficult position financially as well since the 3.5 percent share allocated
from electricity revenue (which amounted to 70 percent of TRTs income,
or 350 trillion Turkish lira in 2002) was reduced to 2 percent in February
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2003. There was no public criticism of this change, mainly because of the
negative attitudes people have towards TRT. Even though it is possible to
talk about an audience increase in recent years (2.2 percent in 1998, 6.9
percent in 2001), TRT still has the lowest audience market share for
public television in Europe.4 The peculiar characteristics of broadcasting
controls content to
regulation also have an effect on content: the RTUK
a far greater extent than media structure, concentration, increasing
market mechanisms, etc. Content control, and subsequent penalties, is
mainly directed towards the channels which are against the state.5
Protecting the state takes precedence over the citizens right to
information.
At this point it should be asked whether any other channel exists in
Turkey which has adopted a different form and whether the narrowcasting channels which only broadcast news could be an alternative with
their relatively more serious offerings? In fact, the news channels CNNTurk
and NTV do produce relatively better news programmes. However,
comparatively lower ratings and the ownership structure of these channels
advise caution. Neither of these news channels, or even some smaller
channels such as Channel 7, are immune from the general tabloidizing
tendency of the major commercial channels.6 The effects of the
tabloidization of news extends even to the newspapers.7 On the other
hand, new communication technology in Turkey is being used for critical
and radical purposes. There are some websites whose aim it is to criticize
the mainstream media discourse and inform users about the different
perspectives which do not find a place in the mainstream. However, it is
hard to consider them as a challenge yet within the limits set by the
power of tabloidized media, which is undermining public knowledge.
Notes
This research was undertaken with the aid of a BAP (Scientific Research Project)
grant from Ankara University. My thanks go to Kathryn Bourgeois Asan for
checking the English.
1. These four channels, which are owned by different media groups, are the main
television channels in Turkey. According to data for 2001, Channel D is the
leader in terms of audience market share, with 17.1 percent. Show TV follows
with 15 percent, Star 14.3 percent and ATV 13.1 percent; while the public
channel TRT-1 has 6.2 percent. For details, see European Audiovisual
Observatory (2002: 101).
According to a TRT poll of a sample of 2121 people in 15 cities
conducted in 2002, TRT-1 news has the biggest audience share (29.6
percent); followed by Channel D (12.6 percent), ATV (12.3 percent), Show
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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 19(3)

2.

3.

4.
5.

6.

TV (10.17 percent), NTV (7.9 percent) and Star TV (6.5 percent). According
to the same poll, the most reliable television channel is TRT (45.4 percent);
NTV (10.6 percent) and ATV (7.7 percent) follow. While TRT news is the
leader according to TRTs own research, TRT-1 comes fourth after three of the
commercial channels in an AGB survey: AGB ratings for the channels, taken
over a whole day in 2002, are as follows: Channel D (16 percent), ATV (14.6
percent), Show TV (12.5 percent) and TRT-1 (7.2 percent).
The researchers only criterion for choosing this sample period was that there
was no national or religious holiday, or any anniversary of some major
political event during that week. Also, the feasibility of recording the news
bulletins was a factor since accessing the archive of a news bulletin is not
easy.
network (Bagmsz
sim Ag,
The activities of the BIA

Ileti
Independent
Communication Network) to strengthen local media in Turkey could be
considered a form of public journalism. The network, funded by the EUMEDA project, aims to train local media professionals, and it provides an
Internet site for them to access each others reports and radio programmes.
The project also aims to empower local media professionals financially and
legally. The Media Training Programmes contain courses and workshops on
civic journalism, responsible broadcasting, journalism during war, etc.
(www.bianet.org, accessed 14 January 2003).
For the details, see European Audiovisual Observatory (2002: 58).
reports, during the years 19942002, these irticac (soAccording to RTUK
called radical Islamists) and separatist broadcasters constituted 94 percent

of all the channels being fined (Ozdiker,

2002).
After this study, popular anchorman Reha Muhtar moved to Star TV. He
certainly had an effect on almost all the channels with his sensationalist style.
My research also revealed that Channel D had adopted similar patterns to
Show TV. Furthermore, this tabloidization of form and content are spreading
to many other channels. Channel 7, which is known as the Islamic channel (it
is funded by Islamic capital and targets citizens of the Muslim faith) and for
its serious political news, has now started to include sensationalist stories and
various new features such as subtitling and music.
When Ali Krca, previously anchorman of ATV and Star TV, became an
editor and news presenter on NTV (September 2002), the whole news, both
in form and content, changed dramatically. In particular, the formal changes
were so obvious that NTV news became like the other two channels Krca
had worked for before, in terms of presentation style, use of colour and
graphics, sensationalism and personalization. He is now back at ATV. NTV is
no longer how it was when he was its editor and anchorman, but nor is it how
it was before he came either. This is not to suggest that one person alone can
make such a big change, but it must be remembered that it is the constant
preoccupation with market pressures and increasing ratings which leads to a
popular presenter like him being brought in.

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BEK: TABLOIDIZATION OF NEWS MEDIA

7. Since the owners of the television channels also own the main newspapers,
what is observed is more visualization and sensationalization of the press; a
press looking more like the television. Therefore, it is not surprising to see
news on popular culture and celebrities even on the front page in Turkish
newspapers. Even the serious opinion paper Cumhuriyet is also now using
colour on its pages, and since March 2003 has regularly featured photos of
fashion shows and models on its back page.

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