Dynamics of Turkish Media in 21st Century between the Lines: Ownership, Concentration and Censorship

In the 20th century, the developments occurring in social, political and economic aspects affected most spheres of business as well as the media sector. With the rise of liberalizing tendencies, the media sector, previously government-operated, was rapidly privatized. This, alongside the process of de-regulation in the media sector, has raised many problems. Turkey immediately took its place in the competition of the media sector’s privatization and de-regulation process. Turkish media has been the scene of many interventions in the 1990s. The connection between political power and the media apparatus extremely affected the operation of these regulations in practical terms. This study intends to analyze the dynamics of current Turkish media structures in relation to their connection with media concentration, ownership and censorship practices. For this reason, the stance taken by major media outlets during the Gezi uprising will be taken as a case study.