The Integration of the Media With the Power in Turkey (2002-2019): Native, National Media Conception

Introduction

The pluralist approaches, which are the precursors of the liberal approach, have defined the media in a sphere of freedom from state interference and advocated that the media fulfills an important task as an autonomous power in the construction of a democratic and participatory society. On the other hand, the conditions of the media are shaped away from expectations of liberal approaches. It is crucial to address the transformations in the economic organization of the media, working practices and the way in which the contents are produced within historical, political, economic and cultural conditions. It is obvious that the media's relations with the actors and institutions that have the existing social power/authority within the social structure need to be analyzed within their historical periods. The media, which exists as a business under the conditions of the market and which is expected to be positioned as the fourth power, is being observed far from this position while it is working in the relation of dependencey with the political, economic, military and symbolic elite. On the other hand, the emergence of the need to have an internal discussion of institutions to emphasize democratic, libertarian values ​​and to defend the liberal media understanding is determined by historical and current periodical conditions. While analyzing the structural bias in the media, the importance of making explanations within both the historical and social conditions, and the current cross-sectional context appears.

It cannot be claimed that media organizations which focus on filling out daily life with all their forms and contents and which gain privileged positions with the function of journalism that is inevitable for the public interest, have autonomous status. Nor does it function as a spokesman or a device that serves directly for the interests of the ruling classes and elite groups. It has been acknowledged that the media organizations operate within the conditions that surround and limit their own daily practices and have an only relatively autonomous position. On the other hand, especially after the 1980s, when the New Right rose with its populist discourse all over the world, the transformation of the media into businesses that operate with the pure market logic has been advocated as a kind of road to more autonomy. Along with the monopolization caused by the policies of privatization and deregulation, the principles of public broadcasting were abandoned (Kaya, 1999, p. 637). Thus, while the change and transformation of the media system in Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s were consistent with the criticism of the monopoly of one voice public broadcasting, it was met with concern by media professionals and journalism organizations. On the other hand, despite the lack of political liberalization, this process has been presented as an expectation of deregulation and liberalization in the field of communication that is compatible with the globalization process. However, the media, within its political economy and certain operating patterns, while moved away from the emphasis on democratic values such as rights and freedoms and reached out to the plane of power and authority relationships. And in this plane, media professionals as symbolic elites, “translate the discourses of political, military, economic and symbolic elites into the public language and play an important role in the formation of harmony towards the social structure and the status quo” (İnal, 1996). The role of the media in achieving convergence has been taken further, and the fact that the media works in the direction of the expectations of the market and those who hold the power and authority is now considered a difficult problem to solve.