Abstract

This thesis will examine the Turkish media during the Gezi Park protest in Turkey in the summer of 2013. What started out as a peaceful protest that began because of environmental reasons, spiraled into a larger protest against the government more generally. What was unusual about the protest, that makes Gezi Park an interesting object of study, is that the mainstream Turkish media completely ignored the protest, barely reported on it, or contributed to the dissemination of disinformation. The lack of coverage and disinformation that was spread within the Turkish media frustrated the public and social media ended up playing a central role in providing the Turkish people with updates. The lack of coverage within Turkish mainstream media was also in stark contrast to the coverage that did occur in international media and alternative media in Turkey.
This thesis investigates the reasons for the lack of coverage in Turkish mainstream media and whose legacy the media serves. It will examine what constrains and enables Turkish journalists, the role social media plays in a country where journalists face corporate and political restrictions, as well as the role international media and alternative media play in the media ecosystem. This research stems from semi-structured interviews conducted with journalists working in Turkey. As theoretical frameworks, this paper will mobilize Castells’ (2012) theory of communication power, as well as the theory of structuration (Giddens, 1984; Mosco, 2009).