The presentation of TRT in the print media in the process of transition to the commercial television broadcasting (1990 ? 2007)

With the reconstruction process began in 1980s, there had been changeovers in social, political, economical and cultural bases as well as in the media. In this different communication medium, as a result of the commercial televisions? coming into being one and after, public service broadcasters lost their monopol positions and faced with big problems. These transitions in the media, had found its place in a very short time in Turkey. As a matter of fact, the monopoly of public service broadcaster TRT came to an end when Star 1 started its broadcast life in 1990. Thus, first with Star 1?s and then with the other commercial televisions? starting broadcasting, TRT began to severely feel the problems and hardships that the other public service broadcasters encountered in different countries.From this point of view, the study aims to introduce in which topics TRT was discussed and what kind of difficulties it encountered throughout both 1990s and 2000s via the news and columns in print media. Within the frames of this aim, the news and the columns about TRT in the papers Zaman, Hürriyet and Cumhuriyet between 1990 - 2007 are skimmed, and the ones which are suitable to the aim of the study are chosen as examples. The data collected from the chosen example news and columns are categorized and analyzed.As a result of the analysis made via the print media, it is seen that TRT couldn?t establish a connection with its audience and couldn?t be considered as a public service broadcaster by the public opinion, was criticized around the same topics and mostly was presented with a negative image to the readers. In addition to these, TRT was isolated in the commercial broadcasting and couldn?t get any support neither from the press nor from the citizens and the politicians. In short, parallel to the problems that the public service broadcasters encountered throughout the world, TRT experienced similar difficulties in the example of Turkey.Key Words1. Reconstruction2. Public Service Broadcasting3. Commercial Broadcasting4. TRT5. Star 1