Altug Akin

Dirty Seeds of Media Transformation in Turkey: The Vertigo of Communication, the Young Party and the Democratic Deficit

Abstract

Recently, the Turkish broadcasting sector – an affluent TV landscape with more than 400 TV stations of which 23 are national and 16 are regional ones, has been controlled largely by a handful of conglomerates with a variety of “interests”. Among these interests the political ones are evident, as well as their implications on the nature of “politics” in the country. By the early 2000’s, the major example of the non-democratic interplay between politics and media in Turkish history turned out to be manifest. In this study, the electoral campaign of a particular political party, Genc Party (Young Party – GP), in the 2002 general elections will be analyzed, in relation to the political communication strategies deployed. GP, whose political attitude can best be described as “eclectic ultra-nationalism”, or “pop ultra-nationalism”, was established only five months before the elections, building on the prevailing corporate network and personal image of its founder Cem Uzan, a young successful business man and media baron. GP received 7,5 percent of overall votes (approximately 2,5 million votes), which can be regarded as an exceptional success in Turkish electoral history. GP’s campaign which applied unique communication methods and was backed up by media of various kinds signifies the ‘de-politicization’ of politics, the take over of the political sphere by the media sphere, the victory of image vs. content, and finally the Turkish version of Berlusconi’s party “Forza Italia”. The article discusses the bitter relationship between media, politics and the public sphere as it was experienced in a post-deregulation Turkish setting.

 

 

Altug Akin is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Communication & Advertising at Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and a member of the research group GRISS (Grupo de Investigación en Imagen, Sonido y Síntesis – Image, Sound and Synthesis Research Group) at the same university. The merging point of media, culture, and society, in regards to the transformations being witnessed in the recent epoch, such as digitalization, migration and de-regulation, constitute his general area of interest. Particularly, his studies focus on the role of the media in fostering national subjectivity in such an intensively globalized era. In this context, Turkish media experience(s) – particularly in relation to Europe and the Middle East – constitute the core of his research activities. Mr. Akin completed his Masters studies in Engineering Management Information Systems at the Royal Institute of Technology, and in Journalism Studies at Stockholm University, both in Sweden. Between 2003 and 2006, he worked as a radio journalist in Swedish Public Service Radio (SR). Prior to his studies in Barcelona, Mr. Akin taught at the Izmir University of Economics, Turkey.


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