Critical discourse analysis of news regarding health policies taken by the Turkish government during the COVID-19 pandemic

Truth is a whole that exists in a certain time and place and is shaped by the cultural, political and social structures of society. Therefore, the concept of truth depends on the structure of power relations and discourse. Foucault takes the power and knowledge relations to examine the concept of truth and argues that discourse, power and knowledge are interrelated. According to him, truth emerges with the acceptance of a discourse by power, and therefore, power and knowledge relations play an important role in the production of truth. Foucault defines regimes of truth as a network of power relations formed through institutions, disciplines and practices, and examines the functioning of power through these discursive formations. Media that shape public discourse use certain discourses and practices to construct a certain truth or reproduce an existing truth. These discourses and practices are determined by the power relations in which the media takes place. Foucault deals with how the truth is constructed under the influence of the media, which factors are influential and whose interests it is shaped. This study, carried out to determine the position of truth within the framework of these concepts, aims to evaluate the Ministry of Health Covid-19 policies of Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Yeni Şafak and Sabah twitter news within the framework of post-truth theory during the Covid-19 pandemic process in Turkey. The research is limited to the health news in the first quarter of the twitter news of Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Yeni Şafak and Sabah during the covid-19 pandemic period. Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis method was applied to the twitter news determined within the scope of the study. The effects of echo chamber effect, anti-intellectualism, political polarization and populist discourses in Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Yeni Şafak and Sabah twitter news were examined. As a result of the research, it is seen that the news in Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Yeni Şafak and Sabah tweets are produced with an ideological perspective and that the produced ideologies affect the truth. In the tweets analyzed in the research, it was seen that anti-intellectualism, political polarization and populist discourses had an impact on the post-truth period. In addition, the echo chamber effect was observed with the comments made on the tweets. As a result, it is possible to say that twitter has become an important tool in following the news and the agenda, and that twitter has influenced the political polarization and echo chamber effect that led to the post-truth era.