Framing the presentation of the 2023 Presidential General Elections in the national press

The 2023 Presidential elections, which coincide with the centennial of the Republic of Turkey, are considered significant both in terms of Türkiye's agenda and political history. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Justice and Development Party, the party's longest serving party in the Republic of Turkey's 100 year political history and its leader and joint candidate of the People's Alliance, failed to secure the necessary votes in the first round for the first time, failing to be elected President. The elections were then forced to go to a second round. In the second round, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was reelected President. However, unlike in previous elections President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was not able to win in the first round this time and was forced into a neck and neck race against his rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint candidate of the Nation Alliance and leader of the Republican People's Party. While The Republican People's Party, which is led by the opposition, and the party's Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu have been able to carry this election to a second round, unlike the defeats suffered in the previous elections, both against the Justice and Development Party and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. These elections, thanks to the shifting political balances, marked a first. Based on this, the aim of this study is to examine how and to what extent the 2023 Presidential elections, which took place in two rounds, were covered in the national press. The study examined the first pages of the newspapers in question for a one month period between May 1 and 31, 2023, using content analysis and news framing methods. Sabah, Yeni Akit, Yeni Çağ, Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Evrensel, Karar, Milliyet and Hürriyet newspapers were selected for analysis. The newspapers chosen for analysis were determined by their editorial style and ideology. In this context, it has been determined that newspapers report news in line with their own political views.