Informational capitalism, data and journalism: The use of digital user data on news websites in Turkey

In the capitalist system, where productive forces are organised around informational networks, communication as a social process has a crucial role in the commodification cycle. The media industry and journalists are among these "informational productive forces," including production forces, human knowledge, and information technologies. Digital platforms, based on datafication, machine learning, artificial intelligence algorithms and the commodification of user data, have led to transformations in news production and reading practices. While the user accesses the content through algorithmic selection, the media industry must adopt content production policies in accordance with algorithms. Within this context, this dissertation examines how the media industry benefits from digital user monitoring opportunities and the news production processes within the critical political economy framework. In this scope of the study, 31 in-depth interviews were conducted with media professionals working in 16 different media organisations in Turkey and how digital newsrooms use digital user data was questioned. The main result of the research is that media organisations process user data to adapt themselves to the logic of capitalist acceleration with the development of information technologies and to maintain their dominance in platforms and their current economic presence.