Research Note: Tabloidization of News Media

Abstract

This article explores the issue of tabloidization of news in the Turkish context by analysing the news texts of four commercial television channels and one public service channel. The analysis looks at how actors and themes are represented, framed and focused and how language is used, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The article argues that the news personalizes and tabloidizes politics. The two main actors in the news on the commercial channels are the poor and ordinary people - with their tragedies and misfortunes - and the rich - with their wealth, gossip and glamorous lifestyle, while the public service channel mainly represents parliamentary actors, especially those in government.

Shifting the refugee narrative? An automated frame analysis of Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis

“…Regarding journalistic techniques, quality media show a more serious reporting style, aiming at elucidating complex matters and placing issues and events in a broader context (Jandura and Friedrich 2014), while tabloids rather refer to one-sided, even populist representations and simplistic pictures of unfolding events. However, some scholars argue that by stirring attention and enhancing feelings of identification and closeness (Bek 2004), tabloids make news stories attractive and understandable for large audiences (Deuze 2005; Skovsgaard 2014), who would otherwise reject them entirely (Sparks 2000).…”

Internal cultural imperialism: The case of the Kurds in Turkey

“…Shifting partially to a strategy of discursive hegemony, in 2009, the AKP government launched an exclusively Kurdish language channel called TRT6—which later changed its name to TRT Kurdi. TRT, as an institution, has a reputation for being a mouthpiece for the government and the military in Turkey, often reporting on state affairs uncritically (Bek, 2004). With regard to its Kurdish service, although the ruling AKP framed the move as part of its ‘Kurdish opening’ democratizing policies, many saw it as no more than a political ploy by the ruling party ahead of elections to gain Kurdish votes.…”

“…The launch of TRT6 represented an attempt at using the channel as a hegemonic vehicle to disseminate government’s discourse among the Kurds in their own language. The ultimate aim of this hegemonic intervention was to make the AKP discourse dominant vis-à-vis rival discourses, such as PKK’s or those of other pro-Kurdish organizations, and gain Kurds’ support for the AKP led state (Bek, 2004; Yesil, 2016; see Laclau and Mouffe, 2001, on discourse and hegemony).…”

The influence of sensationalist features in television news stories on perceived news quality and perceived sensationalism of viewers in different age groups

“…In the literature, a number of related concepts have been employed to study the general phenomenon we refer to as "sensationalist news," including infotainment (Graber, 1994), bad news (Newhagen & Reeves, 1992), soft news (Baum, 2002), tabloidization (Bek, 2004), and arousing news (Kleemans et al, 2012). A number of these studies have defined sensationalist news as news including content and packaging characteristics that have the capability to elicit arousal and attention responses in viewers (Grabe, Lang, & Zhao, 2003;Grabe et al, 2001;Hendriks Vettehen, Nuijten, & Peters, 2008;Lang, Bolls, Potter, & Kawahara, 1999).…”