ways of participation of printed newspapers in the construction of the us representation: examples of the Johnson's Letter and March 1 st Memorandum

The study focuses on how the printed newspapers, representing different political views, framed Turkish-American relations, specifically regarding the Johnson Letter and March 1st and how they contributed to shaping the representation of the USA. The study was designed based on liberal pluralism, and a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis was utilized. Initially, a quantitative content analysis was planned. A text coding system was created, and the texts were analyzed under four thematic categories. Then, the findings related to the framing of the USA's representation in the press were assessed. In the following phase, news content obtained through a data reduction technique for qualitative analysis was interpreted. The study revealed that newspapers with different political representations constructed a collective representation of the USA through similar narrative forms during the initial period examined, regarding the referred news frames and constructed representation of the USA in respect to the presentation of the Turkish-American relations in the press, particularly the Johnson Letter. In the second analyzed period of the letter, the construction of a balanced representation of the USA was maintained. However, during the periods covering the March 1st, and the subsequent developments, the influence of the political and economic power, along with the press as an actor on representation of the USA, became more pronounced.