Transforming politics in a changing world: Mediatization of politics in Turkey

The concept of mediatization has received a great deal of interest in media and communication studies over the last decade. The most important reason for this is that today, mediated communication through media permeates almost every aspect of human life. The main interest of mediatization theory is to examine the relationship between these mediated forms of communication and social and cultural change. The theory of mediatization is nourished by many disciplines, extending from social areas such as religion, politics, law, family, education, sports, and art to current issues such as global warming and climate change, especially in the last decade. This study focuses on the mediatization of politics. The theory of mediatization of politics draws a framework to explain the dependence of politics on the media in terms of carrying out its central functions and maintaining political communication and the effects of this dependence on politics. The aim of the study is to comprehend the scope of the mediatization of politics, its basic dynamics and its consequences in Turkey with a qualitative method. For this purpose, qualitative interviews were conducted with a study group consisting of 27th term deputies of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and journalists interested in the field of politics. The findings obtained with the qualitative analysis resulted in 2 themes, 17 categories and 91 codes. Accordingly, the structural and personal factors of the mediatization of politics in Turkey were evaluated separately. The results revealed that the media is effective in determining the agenda of politics in Turkey, and that the political actors feel a loss of communicative autonomy in their relations with the media. The news value criteria and commercial concerns of the media cause their priorities to differ from politics, and politicians generally take these priorities of the media into account in their actions and discourses. Media consultants are considered extremely important for politicians and carry out a consultancy that is influential on the actions and discourses of politicians. One of the most important conclusions of the study is related to new media. While the new media, and especially social networks, greatly reduce the dependence of politicians on traditional media, they also facilitate the access of journalists to politicians. The effect of media logic on the political field reinforces the perception of the media as an actor on the political scene. Again, the fact that politicians bring their personal spaces to the media is one of the indicators of the mediatization of politics. While all deputies want to appear in the media as much as possible in a mediatized politics, it has been concluded that the level of political experience, the position of the politician in the party and the position of the party in the parliament have important effects on the news value of a deputy. However, the findings strongly emphasize the importance of the media being impartial and economically independent in terms of its democratic functions.