Theses supervised by Metin Ersoy
14 theses · Eastern Mediterranean University
Traffic Accident News in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Newspapers
Road traffic accidents are one of the major issues in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for the individuals who are involved in a traffic accident, their families, loved ones and also for the government, which suffers from consequences morally and financially. This study aims to find out if the 151 news stories from six local newspapers in TRNC in July 2017 use yellow journalism by using sensationalism and its elements into traffic accident news stories to attract audiences by adding soft news values and to gain more profit from the stories. What is more, by employing quantitative content analysis, this study observes if the selected newspapers miss ethical liabilities while constructing the stories. The conclusion of this study indicates that more than half of the news stories have used sensationalism. Newspapers with more commercial concerns tend to show more sensationalism in the news stories. Thus, it is observed that journalist skip ethical liabilities, when it comes to respecting the news subjects’ identities and personal lives.
Social Movements and Peace Journalism: News Framing of Gezi Park Protests in Turkey
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. 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
The Role of Sarcastic Media in the Formation of the Palestinian Public Opinion; Case Study of “Mesh.hek” Facebook Page
The formation of the Palestinian public opinion is a unique process in which wide number of players and factors including the Israeli are taking part in. Historically, media has been one of the most important factors in the formation of the Palestinian opinion. Palestinians have been using media since the beginning of the Israeli – Arab conflict to gain the international support and unite the Palestinians over the idea of freedom and independence. The recent growth of Internet and technologies turned Social Network Sites (SNS) to be one of the most important factors that can affect and influence the Palestinian public opinion. Although Sarcastic media has been used since the beginning of the conflict through the traditional media channels, it took more importance and influence over Palestinians as social network sites become widely used in Palestine. In 2006, The Palestinian internal conflict took place and opened a wide door for activists and institutions to use sarcasm through social networks as a weapon that can influenced people and deliver political messages. The present study focuses on the role of sarcastic media in the formation of the public opinion towards the political issues in Palestine taking a Facebook page called “Mesh.hek” as a case study. Mesh.hek has been selected for the study due to its wide follow among Palestinians as a sarcastic page, the unknown administration of the page and the contents that it shares. Few Palestinians wrote about the formation of the Palestinian Public Opinion and the role of media in this process but no one conducted any research or article related with the sarcastic media in Palestine and its influence over the Palestinian public opinion. One the other hand, the lack of researches in this field gives the study additional importance, another fact that makes it valuable is using the English language in conducting it. The study is based on tow testing theories; Uses and Gratification Theory and the Agenda Setting Theory. Furthermore, the quantitative methodology has been carried out in this study as the researcher created an online questionnaire that includes 49 questions and filled out by 500 participants from the followers of the Facebook page of “Mesh.hek”. The main findings and results of this study can be summarized in several points which include the high level of influence that sarcastic media has over the Palestinian public opinion, the low level of freedom of express in Palestine and the political agenda that Mesh.hek works accord which mainly depends on supporting the Palestinian resistance and attacks the corruption in the economic in a way that highly influences the Palestinian public opinion. Keywords: Sarcastic Media, Social Media, Mesh.hek, Uses and Gratification theory, Agenda Setting Theory, Palestinian – Israeli Conflict, Palestinian Internal Conflict, Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Kuzey Kıbrıs’ta Üniversite Öğrencilerinin “Tık Tuzağına” Karşı Tutum ve Eğilimleri
ÖZ: İnternet gazeteciliğinde mesleğin ticari kaygılar gözetilerek icra edilmesi haber üretim sürecini biçimsel olarak etkilemektedir. Bunun sonucunda haberin sunum şekli değişime uğramaktadır. Haberler daha çok tıklanılması için yanıltıcı başlıklar ve görseller kullanılarak sunulmaya başlanmıştır. Bu durum literatürde Tık Tuzağı (Clickbait) adıyla yer bulmaktadır. Tık tuzağı haberciliğin reklam ve tık ilişkisi içerisinde gerçekleşmesidir. Merak unsurunun her şeyin önüne geçtiği, bilginin gizlendiği, aldatıcı başlıklar ve abartılı görsellerin yer aldığı tık tuzağı ekseni kaçınılmaz şekilde yeni etik problemlere kapı aralamaktadır. Hangi haberlere daha çok ilgi gösterildiği dijital analiz yöntemleriyle tespit edilip bir sonraki haberin elde edilen bu veriler doğrultusunda oluşturulduğu bilinmektedir. Bu nedenle okuyucuların internetten haber alma ihtiyaçlarını bilinçli veya bilinçsiz ne şekilde gerçekleştirdikleri saptamak son derece önemlidir. Bu açıdan tık tuzağı kavramı kullanımlar ve doyumlar yaklaşımı çerçevesinde değerlendirilmiştir. Üniversite öğrencilerine uygulanan anket sonucunda elde edilen verilere göre katılımcıların büyük çoğunluğu tık tuzağını problem olarak görürken, bilgiyi bulmak için diğer sayfalara tıklamaya devam ettiğini söylemektedir. Bu durumun katılımcıların medya okur-yazarlık yeteneğinin az olmasından kaynaklandığı sonucuna varılmıştır.
The Relationship between Citizen and Mainstream Journalism for Covering Syria News
With the intercession of the new media, individuals were able to write news and publish videos through their participations on Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Twitter and blogs. This study is centered on citizen journalism which comes from the participation of citizens in making news. The main purpose of this study is to show the relationship between citizen journalism and mainstream journalism in covering Syrian news. The study interviewed 15 Syrians citizen journalists through the internet and he designed questionnaires to analyze the content of five Syrian events on Aljazeera news channel. The five Syrian events are Al-Bayda and Baniyas, the siege of Bab Amr, al Qusair and Khalidiya in Homs, Yarmouk camp, chemical on Al Gota. Result shows that the reason why Syrian citizen journalists are important is because of the covering of the demonstrations against the Al-Assad Regime. Other reasons are the fact that citizens had the opportunity to express their views on many subjects such as political, economic, ethics and freedom of speech which they’ve been prevented from for many years. Moreover, Aljazeera uses a significant number of footages and contents which came from Syrian citizen journalists. Due to shared political agendas between Aljazeera and citizen journalists, Aljazeera depends on them more than their own reporters while they are covering Syrian news. Majority of footages reflect Syrian opposition and the killing of Syrians which resulted from Al-Assad Regime. The study observed from interviews that Aljazeera depends on some persons as alternative source on covering Syrian news, and in a way they are iv becoming their reporters. This leads to a question about the future of citizen journalist (activists) in Syria. This study asserts that since this is the case in a dictatorship country like Syria, it suggests that studies like this should be done for democratic countries to see the importance of citizen journalism. Secondly, the study also suggests that for other studies, news content published by citizen journalists on their blogs and YouTube should be analyzed. Keywords: Citizen Journalist, Mainstream, Syrian events, Aljazeera channel
Facebook Use for Political Campaigning in Nigeria for 2015 General Elections: Representation of Two Parties Campaigns
During the last election in Nigeria, different political parties made use of new media for their political campaign. They made use of websites, SMS, SNSs, online blog advertising, YouTube ad, to create what and how we should think about/or of them. The aim of this study is to examine how the two top political parties (APC and PDP) in Nigeria used Facebook for their political campaign during the 2015 presidential elections. Coding sheet was used to collect the data. The coding sheet revealed that there were 108 items collected from Facebook, ranged from January 1 to April 30. The population size of the study was particularly two parties – APC and PDP. The study made used of the quantitative content analysis. In order to make the study more scientific, the collected data was entered and analysed in SPSS as descriptive analysis. To make the study more comparative between the two political parties involved, a crosstabulation analysis were adopted. This study featured the propaganda theory in mass/new media, the public opinion theory and use and gratification theory, digital public sphere, as its theoretical framework. The study unveiled interesting facts and figures, and concluded that public opinion is not consciously observed by the electorates until it has achieved its aim.
Youth Involvement in Politics and the Use of Social Media for Activism: A Case Study of Not Too Young To Run & EndSARS Campaigns in Nigeria
The present study employs the theoretical tenets of public sphere, communicative action and the logic of connective action to investigate how new media technologies are leading the way for new forms of political inclusion campaigns and political activity among youth in Nigeria by examining the activities of the #NotTooYoungToRun (NTYTR) and #EndSARS campaigns in Nigeria and the drive for change in youth participation. Probing the activities of both campaigns, the present study sampled 22,064 publicly available tweets from online protesters whose activities were recorded in the hashtags under investigation. The study answers three questions; what issues challenge the youths from accessing formal political, economic and social opportunities as expressed by Nigerian youths on Twitter in the NTYTR and #EndSARS campaigns? How are youths using Twitter to campaign against perceived challenges in Nigeria’s political, economic and social life in the NTYTR and #EndSARS campaigns? What suggestions are offered by youths in the NTYTR and #EndSARS campaigns on Twitter on how to increase their participation in Nigeria’s political, economic and social life? Findings strongly reveal that Twitter offers an avenue for Nigerian youths to converge and discuss issues in patterns that are evident in the public sphere by using their personalized action frames. Through content analysis, the study established that a common problem identified in both campaigns studied is the systemic marginalization of young people from access to opportunities that would advance their wellbeing politically, economically and socially. This has further prevented their full participation in formal politics while also threatening their livelihood. The study found that the youths’ attempt to resolve this challenge has involved the use of social media platforms like Twitter to lobby international organizations for support for their causes.
A Study Turkish Sports Newspapers’ Coverage of Beşiktaş’s European Matches
The football coverage of Turkish sports newspapers is an area of concern as certain framing decisions raise questions of journalistic ethics in the light of the agenda-setting theory. This study investigates nationalism, militarist metaphors, metaphors of physical fight and the coverage of referees on 116 cover pages of Turkish sports newspapers before and after Beşiktaş played in European competitions during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons. The results obtained by using quantitative content analysis show that militarist metaphors and metaphors of physical fight are more common in post-match articles whilst nationalist language is more common in pre-match articles. Nationalist language, militarist metaphors and metaphors of physical fight are most common in post-match articles published after a Beşiktaş victory. There are no positive mentions of the referee and negative mentions occur at the same percentage after a Beşiktaş victory and defeat. Finally, militarist metaphors and metaphors of physical fight are present in more than half of the articles.
Türkiye Süper Ligi Futbol Takımlarının Sosyal Medya Üzerindeki Taraftar Organizasyonlarının İletişimi ve Yönetime Olan Etkilerinin İncelenmesi
The concept of globalization, which has entered our lives since the 1980s and has been widely researched in the world literature, has created changes in political, economic, cultural and social areas around the world. After all kind of this changes football also affected by these developments and created a business field by moving away from amateurism and has renewed itself as Industrial Football by globalizing. In the renewed and changing new football system, investments were made in different areas by attracting the attention of investors. Spectator are perceived as customers and included in this system as a consumers. After developing and changing technologies, football has attracted more attention. The federations organized various tournaments and enabled more presentation of football to the audience. World Cup was organized in the first years only people who live in that country had the opportunity to watch football, after developing technology, it has become a sector where billions of people have the opportunity to watch. Broadcasting tender, stat naming rights, jersey/ sportsgear sponsorships, combined tickets, etc. after the regulations entered football life, the fans actually changed not as users of this system but as consumers. After 1990s, especially fan group in Turkey they started to seek both their own rights and the rights of the team they supported. Established associations and fan groups have increased their income level by creating memberships and have achieved independence within themselves, without being dependent on any institution or organization. The fan groups formed by the supporters of Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe teams are the greatest examples of this. Content analysis and discourse analysis were made over the shares of Çarşı Fan Group and Young Fenerbahçeliler Fan Groups, which we discussed in our thesis, on their official Twitter accounts. Shared posts were examined by taking out certain theories. Totaly 60 shares will be examined, content analysis will be made and the findings of this study will be revealed. Keywords: Football, Industrial Football, Fan Groups, Social Media
Online Gazetelerin Kullanımı ve Doyum Sorunsalı: Kuzey Kıbrıs Örneği
ÖZ; GeliĢen teknolojiyle birlikte geleneksel medya da payını almıĢ ve bir dizi değiĢimler göstermiĢtir. Basılı gazeteler varlığını devam ettirirken geliĢen teknoloji ile beraber gazeteler internet ortamında yerini almıĢtır. Geleneksel gazetelere göre, online gazeteler okura bir takım avantajlar sunarken bir diğer taraftan da beraberinde olumsuzluklar getirmiĢtir. Online gazeteleinr; hız, zaman tasarrufu, arĢivlere 7/24 ulaĢım imkanı, maliyet olarak daha ekonomik olması, okura aktif iletiĢim sunması gibi birçok avantajı bulunmaktadır. Diğer taraftan online gazetelerin dezavantajları arasında en önemli sorunlardan biri, online gazetelerin internet üzerinden eriĢimi olduğundan, mali gelirleri; reklamlar, tıklanmalar ve site içerisinde geçirilen zamanlardan kazanmaktadırlar. Bu durum kullanılan bazı yöntemler yüzünden, okur tarafından güvenilirliği düĢük bulunmaktadır. Buna göre; bu çalıĢmanın amacı, Kuzey Kıbrıs basınında yer alan online gazeteler bağlamında bir araĢtırma yapılarak güven unsurunu etkileyen etkenlerin neler olduğunu belirlemek ve okurun güven kaybını giderebilecek düzenlemeler olup olmadığını tespit etmektir. Bu araĢtırmada yöntem olarak veri analizi kullanılmıĢ ve dolayısıyla anket yöntemine baĢvurulmuĢtur. Okur odaklı bir çalıĢma olduğundan güven unsurunu tespit edebilmek açısından nicel verilere duyulan ihtiyaç doğrultusunda anket yöntemi uygulanmıĢtır. Anahtar kelimeler: internet gazeteciliği, güven araĢtırması, okur odaklı, Kuzey Kıbrıs
Ethical Issues in Political News Coverage: A Case Study of 2015 General Elections in Turkey
Journalism ethics is important to study, and this study focuses on infringements of journalism ethics during the General Elections of 2015 in Turkey. Its aim to find out five most circulated newspapers’ which are Zaman Hürriyet, Posta, Sözcü and Sabah, infringement of journalism ethics between two General Election of June 7th and November 1st in 2015. In this study, content analysis was used without physical measurement. Only cover pages were analysed which news was relevant to political issues. A coding sheet was used to analyse, and its reliability was .97 according to Cohen’s formula. The study was conducted to answer two major questions. (1) Is there any unethical news has been published during the two elections, and (2) what changed between the two elections on cover pages news according to journalism ethics? At the end of the research, infringements of journalism ethics were remarked by all newspapers during the elections. Main conspicuous thing is that newspapers infringed journalism ethics according to being pro-government or not. Especially, most infringements have happened before the elections, and newspapers were being changed their attitudes according to election results. Keywords: journalism ethics, general election, Turkey, content analysis
Nigeria online Broadcast Media Framing of Boko Haram Insurgency: From Peace Journalism Perspective
Conflicts and insurgencies have become a universal concern especially in the 21st century. Since 2009, Nigeria have struggled under the weight of sever attacks on the residents of Northeast region of the country as a result of the activities of an Islamic extremist sect called Boko Haram which translates to western education is sinful. The sects‘ activities have been credited with the death of about 17,000 persons and the displacement of more than 1.5 million women and children. As expected, issues bordering on the sects‘ activities dominate the news bulletin daily as the news media who thrives in reportage of oddities and casualties feast on the increasing number of audacious and gory acts of the sect with screaming headlines that does more in igniting fear and apprehension in the polity than reassuring them of possibilities of restoring peace and normalcy in the region. However, peace journalism- a brand of advocacy journalism is tasking the media who are indispensable and active actors in peace process to tow the conflict resolution path by adequately mapping the root causes of problems and offering salience on possible resolution approaches in order to checkmate the escalation and ultimately nip conflicts in the bud. Hence this study employed qualitative frames analysis in examining how Nigerian online broadcast media have framed the Boko Haram insurgency- whether it is peace or conflict oriented. A period of three months (February through April, 2014) which yielded 136 reports was examined using the Galtung peace journalism model as a guide. Findings are indicative that the Nigerian media are yet to wholesomely employ peace journalism ethics in reporting the Boko Haram insurgency as they muddle up both peace and conflict frames, though more conflict frames were observed in reports. This study is contributory to knowledge as it serves as a form of a report card that helps media houses in Nigeria to re-evaluate in needful areas. The teaching of media and conflicts reporting in colleges and universities will also find this work beneficial as well as security agency who may wish to understand the functionality of the media better in order to partner with them more appropriately in conflict situations. Keywords: Peace journalism, News framing, Boko Haram, Nigerian broadcasting media.
İstanbul Yerel Medyasında Mülteci HaberlerininBarış Gazeteciliği Açısından İncelenmesi
ÖZ: Günümüzün önemli sorunlardan biri olan göç kavramı insanların güvenlik ve ekonomik nedenlerden dolayı gerçekleşmesiyle oluşmaktadır. Güvenlik nedeniyle kendi ülkelerinden göç etmek zorunda kalan ve farklı bir ülkede yaşamını devam eden mülteciler basında geniş yer almaktadır. Bu kapsamda, 2011 yılında Arap Baharı etkisiyle başlayan Suriyeli mülteci sorunu dünyanın çeşitli yerlerinde önemli sorun haline gelmektedir. Yerel medya konumu bakımından bölgesel sorunların dile getirildiği çözü-mün oluşturulduğu medyadır. Basında yer alan haberlerin çeşitli söylemlerle topluma aktırıldığı ve söylemlerin bireyleri etkilediği gözlemektedir. Barış gazeteciliği toplumsal farklıklarının ortadan kaldırıldığı ve medyadaki söylemlerin barışçıl yollarla çözümlenmesini belirtmektedir. Bu kapsamda, İstanbul yerel basınında yer alan olumsuz yönde haberleştirilen Suriyeli mülteci haberlerini eleştirel söylem analizi tekniğiyle çözümlenerek barış gazeteciliği çerçevesinde incelenecektir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Barış Gazeteciliği, İstanbul yerel basın, Söylem Çözümlenmesi, Suriyeli Mülteci
Political Party Leaders’ Use of Social Media in North Cyprus During Parliamentary Elections 2018
Social media is an important arena in political communication especially in electoral campaigns. This study aims to find about politicians’ use of social media as a means of political communication during the general election campaign in 2018, in North Cyprus. In this study, content analysis used as a reseach method. Leaders of six political parties’ Facebook and Twitter posts were analyzed over a month and a half period, starting from 07.12.2017 until 22.01.208, covering the period of a month earlier to the election day (07.01.2018) and two weeks after the election day. A coding sheet was used to analyze, and its reliability was .75 according to Cohen’s formula. This study was conducted to answer three questions. (1) How did political party leaders use social networking sites (Facebook or Twitter) during the election campaign?, (2) What were the main themes in their SNSs’ posts? and (3) Is there any difference within the politicians’ use of SNSs in pre-election and post-election periods? The findings of the study show that utilization of social media as a means for political communication in election campaigns with a professional sense is not a main issue in North Cyprus. Alongside of using social media to reach voters, politics still rely mostly on traditional ways such as campaign trail visits throught the country in order to have face-to-face relationship with voters. Keywords: Political Communication, Election Campaigns, Facebook, North Cyprus