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Journals / Beykoz Akademi Dergisi / 2025 / Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2

FRAMING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF TURKISH TELEVISION CHANNELS

COVID-19 PANDEMİSİNİN ÇERÇEVELENMESİ: TÜRKİYE’DE TELEVİZYON HABERLERİNİN İÇERİK ANALİZİ

Veli Boztepe(İSTANBUL AYDIN ÜNİVERSİTESİ, İLETİŞİM FAKÜLTESİ)0000-0002-3757-3772
Pages
92–112
Publication Date
2025-12-17
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The study also highlights that the distribution of the frames used altered from one month to the next.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

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Objective & Hypothesis:Framing the news plays an important role in shaping the public perception in periods of high risk such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Key Findings & Data:This paper provides a critical examination how television news framed the COVID-19 pandemic in its early phase in Turkey, focusing upon the main news bulletins broadcast in Now TV, Kanal D, Show TV, and ATV, which were chosen since they represented the most viewed news bulletins in the country.
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Conclusion & Impact:The study also highlights that the distribution of the frames used altered from one month to the next.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:2020 Verileri
⚙️Variables:COVİD-19 · pandemi · televizyon haberleri

Abstract

Framing the news plays an important role in shaping the public perception in periods of high risk such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides a critical examination how television news framed the COVID-19 pandemic in its early phase in Turkey, focusing upon the main news bulletins broadcast in Now TV, Kanal D, Show TV, and ATV, which were chosen since they represented the most viewed news bulletins in the country. The time period covered in the study spans from the beginnings of the pandemic in the world to 11 March 2020, when the first case in Turkey was made public. This paper employs the method of content analysis, discussing the frames “attribution of responsibility,” “human interest,” “economic consequences,” “conflict,” and “morality.” The findings of the study show that the general frames typology offered by Semetko and Valkenburg is relevant to the TV news examined here. The research reveals that the most commonly employed frame is that of “attributing responsibility,” followed by the frames “economic consequences,” human interest,” and “conflict,” and “morality”. The study also makes clear that it is the relationships with the government that seem to have determined their frames and themes as well as their broadcasting visions. It has been observed that the channels, Show TV, ATV, and Kanal D, embraced a viewpoint supportive of the government authorities, following a news policy essentially in line with the decisions taken by the State in the first phase of the crisis. Another finding of the study is that Kanal D, Show TV, and ATV often used some episodic, sensational themes in their news stories on COVID-19, whereas Now TV, which is considered to have followed a serious and dissident broadcasting policy, was found to have chosen a non-sensational approach, employing fewer frames. The study also highlights that the distribution of the frames used altered from one month to the next.

Özet

Haber çerçevelemeleri salgın gibi risk dönemlerinde kamu algısını biçimlendirmede önemli bir role sahiptir. Bu çalışma, COVID-19 salgınının erken döneminin Türkiye’deki televizyon haberlerinde nasıl çerçevelediğini incelemektedir. Çalışmada Kanal D, Show TV, Now TV ve ATV’nin ana haber bültenleri örneklem olarak alınmıştır. Söz konusu televizyon ana haber bültenlerinin seçilme nedeni en fazla izlenen televizyon ana haber bültenleri olmalarıdır. Çalışma Kanal D, Show TV, Now TV ve ATV’nin ana haber bültenlerinin COVID-19 pandemisinin başladığı tarihten, Türkiye’de ilk vakanın görüldüğü 11 Mart 2020 tarihine kadar yayınladıkları ana haber bültenleriyle sınırlandırılmıştır. Çalışmada “sorumluluk yükleme”, “insan ilgisi”, “ekonomik sonuçlar”, “çatışma” ve “ahlak” çerçeveleri nitel içerik analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Çalışmanın sonuçları Semetko ve Valkenburg tarafından kuramsal bir çerçeve olarak önerilen genel çerçeveler tipolojisinin, bu araştırmada incelenen televizyon haberleri için de geçerli olduğunu göstermektedir. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre en fazla kullanılan çerçeve “sorumluluk yükleme” çerçevesidir. Bu çerçeveyi “ekonomik sonuçlar”, “insan ilgisi” ve “çatışma” çerçeveleri izlemektedir. “Ahlak” çerçevesi en az kullanılan çerçevedir. Çerçevelerin ve temaların şekillenmesinde televizyon kanallarının yayın anlayışlarının yanı sıra hükümetle ilişkilerinin belirleyici olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Show TV, ATV ve Kanal D’nin devlet yetkililerinin bakış açısını destekledikleri ve sağlık krizinin ilk döneminde hükümet tarafından alınan kararlarla temelde aynı doğrultuda yayın yaptığı saptanmıştır. Çalışmanın bulgularından biri de Kanal D, Show TV ve ATV’nin COVID-19 pandemisiyle ilgili haberlerinde ağırlıklı olarak epizodik, sansanyonel temalar kullandıklarıdır. Muhalif ve ciddi bir yayın çizgisi bulunan Now TV’nin ise daha az çerçeve kullandığı, sansasyonel olmayan bir yaklaşım benimsediği görülmektedir. Çalışmada ayrıca, çerçevelerin dağılımının aylara göre değişim gösterdiği saptanmıştır.

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Cite This Article

Boztepe, V. (2025). FRAMING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF TURKISH TELEVISION CHANNELS. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi, Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2, 92–112. https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1555356

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