SİYASAL İLETİŞİMDE ANADOLU AJANSI’NIN ROLÜ

Mass media is an essential factor in political communication. Facilitating the relationship between the governing bodies and the public as well as covering the works in election period, political communications are carried out through various media channels. Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet, the new social media and mobile media are some of the broadcasting channels through which political communication is conveyed. One of the debates today is on which particular media channel is the most successful in conveying political communication by its technique; is it the television, the newspaper, or the social media? It should be noted that aside from all above media channels, news agencies are critical to the supply chain of news media for both domestic and international news distribution. As major suppliers of the domestic and international news broadcasting, news agencies are fundamental to the political communication. Considered as major suppliers of the media news, news agencies are also described as ‘global news wholesalers' and are generally known by their short names or logos. In Turkey, one of the most effective political communication channels is the Anadolu Agency (AA). The fact that AA has served as a public agency for almost a century now is a fundamental characteristic that distinguishes AA from the private news agencies that are active domestically. Thus, since its establishment AA has been granted institutional privileges and protected by the government. In 1925, its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk transformed AA's official status into a joint-stock company, which has contributed to the Agency's strength on political communication. With the new legislation no.6518 brought in 2014, the state's control over the work of Anadolu Agency has been largely relinquished to further AA's existing constitutional status of ‘autonomy and impartiality' all of which have created its freedom supported by substantial legal framework. With the constitutional support, AA has been central to the political communication of the Turkish government, the parliament, state and political parties but yet endorsed to stand against bureaucracies and the governmental influence. This study is based upon defining the role and presence of Anadolu Agency in the political communication. Rather than focusing on the term political communication itself, this article emphasizes the function of news agencies in political communication, particularly the AA and its contributions to the political dialogues.