News of the privatization on the Turkish press

Privatization as a term is defined as reducing to a minimum or completely removing the economic activities of the state. However, privatization is not only an economic process but also a political preference as well. Dispite there is a long history of privatization policies and practices in Turkey, the fundamental discussion of it begun with the 24 January decisions in 1980. In this study, firstly a general evaluation was made about the privatization applications in Turkey, and then the approach of the press towards privatization was analyzed. For the analysis, three newspapers which represent political dispositions were chosen: Türkiye for the centre- right, Hürriyet for the centre, and Cumhuriyet for the centre left. These newspapers were scanned for fourteen years from January 1887 through February 2000. One month was chosen from each year. The basic findings of this study are as follows: 1. The centre and the centre-right newspapers see privatization aj only an economic decision. The centre-left newspaper, on the other hand, makes clear that it is at the same time a political preference. 2. Positive themes towards privatization appear more frequently on the centre and the centre-right papers. On the other hand, the centre-left paper gives more space to the negative themes towards privatization. 3. Privatization in every sector does not have the same news value. The Turkish press is especially interested in the privatizations in energy and banking sectors. 4. Newspapers heavily depend on official sources when writing about privatization.