Examining social facts through the kaleidoscope: Representation of poverty and social responsibility in Turkish news media

This master's thesis discusses the duties of the media, which is seen as a powerful stage capable of molding public opinion, according to the Social Responsibility Theory. In this research, the social responsibility notion is addressed as a media model and as a third sector. Social responsibility messages on the news flow of the Turkish news media is examined through the lens of poverty. This thesis approaches the media as if it is a kaleidoscope because of the media's ability to reproduce truth. In this master's thesis, the kaleidoscope can be seen as a tool that is able to alter the meaning and reproduce information. The Hypodermic Needle Theory is considered to have an impact on the birth of the Social Responsibility Theory. In light of this information contributions of the media to the field of social responsibility are analyzed under the titles of 'The Power of Media and News in the Context of Social Responsibility Theory', 'Conceptual Framework of the Field of Study: Social Responsibility Activities in Combating Poverty', 'Content Analysis in ATV, FOX TV, Kanal D, Show TV News and Opinions on Adequacy of Social Responsibility Messages in the Media'. In this research, the content analysis of the broadcasts, in which the words "poverty and social responsibility" are mentioned in the Turkish news media, was made. With the survey method opinions on the understanding of social responsibility in the media were determined. It was concluded that the participants of the research did not find the social responsibility messages of the media sufficient. It has been determined that the 4 channels with the highest viewing rate do not have a special area in their news broadcasts for the subject of social responsibility. As a result of examining the research variables in terms of demographic information, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of age, occupation status, annual income, education level, but no significant difference was found in terms of the gender variable.