Abstract
According to Reporters Without Borders, as of 2025, 90 percent of national media in Turkey is under government control and the country ranks 159th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. Exclusion of dissenting voices from mainstream media over the last decade has led many well-known journalists to leave their jobs and establish their own digital channels. These journalists, who already had a large audience, first started independent journalism with websites they established under their own names and then managed to reach larger audiences by producing daily programs on YouTube. Some of them manage to become a strong voice with more than 1.5 million followers and 20 million monthly views. This study examines how these journalists use YouTube for opinion journalism as a means to bypass political control and rebuild a sphere for public discourse. This analysis also considers the relationship between media and politics within the framework of the concept of digital migration, while also focusing on the transformation of the audience-journalist interaction. Indeed, in this new media practice, journalists are repositioning themselves as actors who not only report news, but also interpret them and guide public opinion. On the other hand, audiences also take active roles in content production processes through comments, subscriptions and donations. The potential of these digital spheres, which are formed outside the conventional media structures, in terms of democratic communication is discussed.
Presenters
Oylum TanrioverAssistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Marmara University Faculty of Communication, Istanbul, Turkey
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
PLATFORMIZATION OF JOURNALISM, DIGITAL DISSENT, NETWORKED PUBLICS
