The news relationship between local government and local press: An analysis on the case of Ankara

The relations between local government and the local press impact the news production process. Local media reports local governments' actions, services, and activities and presents them to the public. On the other hand, local governments want to use the power of local media to announce all their services and work to the general public. The common feature between both structures is that they provide local public services. In this sense, it is essential that the local press and local government keep in constant contact in this common area. The purpose of this research was to determine what factors influence the relationship between local newspapers and local governments in Ankara. In accordance with this purpose, open-ended interviews were conducted with local authorities in Ankara and representatives of the official advertisements in local newspapers from the Press Advertisement Institution employing a technique known as in-depth interviews. In this study, one of the results indicates that the relationship between political attitudes and advertisement is a factor in whether the news is included in newspapers. Additionally, another important result demonstrates that local government press unit managers have is limited and weak communication with local newspapers. The study is particularly important due to the fact that it involves and focuses both on local newspaper executives and on the officials of local governments, as well as the fact that no study of such nature has been conducted before in Ankara which is unarguably our country's political and administrative center.