The presentation of news on Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers in the Turkish press: The case of Cumhuriyet and Sabah

The most important function of the press is to report, to inform about events or situations that affect the individual or the community. The greatest power of the press is to influence or even direct the thoughts of the masses with a message created on a subject. This influencing and directing power of the press can also be explained by the framework used in the creation of news. A topic on the press agenda can be presented from different angles or in different frames by newspapers with different editorial policies. In this context, the study examined how Afghan migrants and asylum seekers were presented in the Turkish press as the U.S. decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and the new migration movement that emerged due to the complications of the Taliban's reinstatement also affected Turkey. The newspapers selected for the study, Cumhuriyet and Sabah, which have different editorial strategies, were selected for July 10–24 and August 5–19, 2021, with a 15-day deadline for both months. The reason why July and August were selected for the study is that the event is more intense during these months and the issue is more on the public agenda. As part of the study, the news articles were examined using the content analysis method and considering the framing theory. In this context, how newspapers create and present news about Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers in the migration movement that affects the social fabric of Turkey, whether newspapers comply with the publication policy in these presentations, how intensively the news is reported in which month, in which direction the topics are emphasized when the topic is covered in July and August were investigated. Based on the obtained data, Cumhuriyet and Sabah newspapers were compared, and it was found that both newspapers format their news in a framework that is consistent with their editorial policies. During the investigation, it was found that Cumhuriyet newspaper was the media institution that reported the most on the issue. At the same time, it was found that there were significant differences in the topics that the Cumhuriyet newspaper covered in July and August. The Sabah newspaper, which covered the issue more broadly, had only a small number of news stories. The newspaper's topics were considered positive in the form of discourse.