Expecting the Unforeseeable: The 2007 Turkish Elections in the Media ¹

1. This is a revised version of a paper prepared for presentation at the Workshop on Turkish Elections, 2007, November 30–December 1, 2007, Sabancı University, Karaköy Communication Center, Istanbul. View all notes

This study presents an analysis of how the media reported the 2007 elections in Turkey. Past research on election campaign media coverage, particularly newspapers, suggests that the media can play an important role in informing voters. However, much of the research on campaign media coverage has focused on Western democracies with little attention paid to how features of the media system such as press regulations, ownership structures, journalistic practices, and partisan alignment in the press can both shape how election news is reported and its possible influence on voting decisions. In order to expand understanding of campaign media coverage outside Western democracies, this study examines how four Turkish newspapers covered parties and issues during the 10 weeks prior to the July 2007 elections.