The change of the ownership structure of the Turkish media within the framework of neoliberal policies

Neoliberal policies, which influenced the whole world, started to be implemented in Turkey with the January 24 Decisions. In parallel with the structural and institutional change in the economic, political and cultural fields, the appearance of the media has completely changed. In this process, the media has been a tool for both capital accumulation and the reproduction of ideologies In the 1980s, deregulation policies gained momentum, and the media ownership structure of the media became concentrated with neoliberal practices. Ownership structures in the media sector have changed with the entry of non-sector capital groups into this field; The number of media businesses that have grown by joining the holdings operating in different sectors has gradually increased. Within the framework of this transformation, traditional media ownership has been replaced by an ownership structure in which capital groups operating in non-media sectors are integrated with the media. In this process, groups coming from the family business tradition either withdrew from the media sector or tried to continue their existence by integrating with other groups. With the entry of non-media holdings the media sector into the media sector, the process of monopolization, promotion wars, the establishment of commercial radio and television, cartel agreements in distribution and advertising, the tabloidization of media content, the change of journalist practices, the anti-union agreements the control of the labor force have become the supplementary of the sector. In this context, the aim of this research is to examine the transformation of the Turkish media sector with neoliberal policies between 1980-2002. For this purpose, in this study, in which a critical political economy approach is adopted, it has been examined within the framework of the neoliberal capital accumulation process in line with the neoliberal economic policies that have become more visible since the 1980s with the transition from "press" to "media". In this study, in which historical qualitative analysis is used based on critical political economy approach, between 1980 and 2002 the holdings operating in the media sektor, the main fields of activity are the commercial and industrial sectors,and the capital groups investing in the media sector: Doğan Group, Asil Nadir Group, Çukurova Group, Doğuş. Group, Media Group (Dinç Bilgin), Uzan Group, Central Group (Turgay Ciner), Europe and America Holding Group (Erol Aksoy), İhlas Group, Korkmaz Yiğit Holding, Nergiz Holding (Olay Media Group), Çavuşoğlu-Kozanoğlu Group and other groups were examined. The activities of these groups in the media sector, their market shares, their relations with other sectoral investments, and their economic, political and social structuring in the 1980-2002 period are presented in detail. Within the framework of the neoliberal policies experienced in the 1980s and after, which were examined within the scope of the research, there have been changes in the political, economic and cultural fields in Turkey as well as in the whole world. Neoliberalism has changed the understanding of public interest and public service in the economy. The process of conglomeration of the press, which gained momentum in the 1970s, evolved into the process of mediaization of the holdings in the 1980s, and in this context, while the press turned into the media; With horizontal, vertical and cross monopolization, media ownership passed to the control of non-media capital groups. According to the findings, especially in 1980 and after, Turkish media was shaped according to the political economy conditions of global capital. In this process, the composition of capital in the media, which tries to integrate into the market economy, has also changed. The media conglomerates within the scope of the research have had a say in the political arena through the media, have taken a share in public tenders, and by producing content in line with the interests of their dominant ideologies, they have transformed the media into capitalist enterprises that produce goods/services, invest and try to adapt to market conditions with a professional management approach. In this process, the change in the capital structure of the media didn't allow the alternative media opportunities, but also completely changed the structure of the labour relations in the media. Keywords: Media, Ownership, Conglomeration, Media Groups.