Framing of Pro-Minority Political Parties by Mainstream Media: A case study of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi – HDP) and the Turkish Press

Abstract

The objective of this case study is to analyze how the mainstream Turkish press framed the pro-minority Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi – HDP) and what the differences and similarities were in their framing of the HDP in coverage of the events between the two general elections in 2015, when the peace process between the PKK and Turkish state collapsed. The analysis is focused on 3 newspapers from June 2015 until November 2015: Hürriyet, Sabah and, Sözcü. I practiced upon the propaganda model to explain how the media in Turkey worked as for the Kurds and relied on the framing and agenda-setting theories to make sense of the fact that how and to what end the actors in political communication framed issues. While the study showed that the HDP were covered majorly within the subjects of Kurdish – Turkish Conflict (1984 -) and 7 June Elections, the dominant frame to cover the HDP was the morality frame, followed by responsibility and terrorism & separation frames. The findings showed that there was a considerable variation between how and on which subject each newspaper covered the HDP based on their political affiliation. While Hürriyet covered the HDP through a mostly legitimate actor frame coupled with responsibility and powerlessness frames, Sabah and Sözcü’s framing of HDP were based on a highly illegitimate actor frame for Sözcü and almost solid illegitimate actor frame for Sabah, followed by responsibility and terrorism and separation frames for both newspapers. The findings of this study showed that the mainstream framing activity between the two elections did not affect HDP constituency in a decisive degree but rendered the party as significantly vulnerable in political context of Turkey.