Representations of countries in the international media: The case of Turkey in the BBC
Abstract
Using a framing analysis and a corpus approach, this study investigated the representation of Turkey in the international media by focusing on the BBC News between December 2016 and June 2018. The results showed that Turkey was ranked 17th among countries in the BBC News and was often associated with Syria, the USA, Germany, Russia, and the Netherlands internationally. The frequently used words were Turkey, Turkish, Erdogan, people, Syria, government, Kurdish, Syrian, state, and coup. Turkey was represented as a country ruled by an influential leader (Erdogan), experiencing tensions with the armed Kurdish groups, involved in the Syrian internal war, and suffering from a failed coup attempt in which Turkey attacked the Gulen movement, which caused severe oppression in society. It was found that the BBC used particularly three news frames: conflict (Erdogan vs. Gulen, Turkey vs. Syria, Turkey vs. armed Kurdish groups), human interest (sufferings because of terror, war, and oppression) and responsibility (Erdogan as a savior).
Keywords
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