1. Dr. Uğur KÜÇÜKÖZYİĞİT Gazi Üniversity, Faculty of Communication Ankara-TURKEY (ugurkucukozyigit@yahoo.com)

2. 1) Story/History of Turkish newspapers 2) Three figures and other findings

3. Journalism is usually perceived by masses just as an operation of ‘gathering and disseminating of news’ or ‘reporting’. However, mass communication boom of the 20 th century made it clear that journalism is much more than reporting.

4. Media disseminates information to a large audience, and it is an effective part of everyday life. Journalists are the producer, constructer, and the editor of the messages (or reality?).

5. Ottoman society was introduced to newspapers and magazines 200 years later than Europe. In addition to this disadvantage, the number of readers (circulation) was also very low because of the traditional dominance of oral culture. The activities and announcements of the Ottoman Palace seem to be treated as news in early newspapers.

6. Newspapers of the newly established Turkey experienced economic problems and authoritarian legislation about press.

7. The new alphabet (in 1928): In the transition to the Latin alphabet,  journalists were forced to produce their newspaper with a new alphabet, which they did not know then,  and they were obliged to sell their newspaper to readers who are illiterate in Latin alphabet.

8. As a result, newspapers in Turkey were weak, both in quantity and quality, during the early years of republic. In 1920s or 1930s, it is difficult to say that the newspapers were a satisfying source of news and information for masses (Seyhan & Temiztürk, 2014, p.1279).

9. Political tensions and social polarization determined the content of newspapers in 1960s and 1970s. News and columns referring to political actors and their activities appeared more than ever. Political books, magazines, and publications were frequently promoted by news

10. Since 1970s, technological developments have started to affect the journalism industry. Offset printing technology in national newspapers and colorful newspaper supplements are the main improvements of this period (Especially after 1980s, newspapers that were despised as “colorful press” witnessed a large increase in their circulation).

11. Turkey’s both politic and economic structure has been reconstructed by the military coup of 1980. Media was also… Limitations on political news and issues in newspapers were imposed by the military. Newspapers chose to allocate their pages to apolitical and military-friendly subjects, just as celebrities, instead of politics (colorful press).

12. Media industry also reshaped that it would not be a business which can be operated in traditional way. It required large capital. New investors were from outside of the media industry. Media owner’s economic concerns came to the fore and they began to play a critical role in the content

13. Economic concerns of the new investors are resulted monopolization and circulation wars: The characteristics of Turkish newspapers in 1990s.

14.  Doğan and Bilgin Groups partnered in 1996,  they organized the distribution and advertising subsectors in the Turkish press. And they transferred the largest portion of ads to their own media. But it was more than that…

15. The collaboration of Doğan-Bilgin almost destroyed the press employees’ unionization and social rights. Worse, followed by a “Gentlemen’s Agreement”. By this agreement, employers aimed to prevent the transfer of journalists between their media groups, and had the liberty of limiting in anything for the journalists (wages, insurance, employing-firing, news-making, etc.)

16. In this study, the newspapers were examined in terms of news and language in their first page. The population of this research is the national newspapers which have been in circulation continuously since 1960. Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, and Milliyet are the sample newspapers selected.

17. For this survey, seven years were selected by ten-year intervals from 1961 to 2015: 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2015. The copies published in the second week of May of each year were studied.

21. Twentieth century gave birth to a new globally comprehensive visual language, which affected many areas, including the production of news and newspaper layouts. Compatible to this:  The images increasing in number per news  Shortened headlines and news texts by excluding details are the indicators of the new Turkish national newspapers’ format.

22. Especially after 2000, the body text of the news, which is the main part of the traditional format, is seen quite shorter. A new design has gained prevalence, which featuring more attractive headlines and titles, or colored information boxes and images.

23. In this new format, idioms or metaphors are usually preferred to express a situation, instead of explaining the background. Readers are expected to complete the unwritten elements of news via analogies.

24. Missing phrases in caption or topics, ellipsis, uncompleted syntax or tense absences are the indicators of this ‘journalistic language’. While the number of words in headlines was decreasing, font sizes have enlarged in last 50 years.

25. The elements and informative parts of the news are given in colored boxes or balloons. Sometimes just a word of a title/phrase can be printed in different colors or on a contrasted background. In this format, news is built with different particles in different perceptual features. Readers only read the parts that they are interested in, and consume the news as much as they want.

26. Now, the printed news is like LEGO blocks waiting for the reader on the page. The reader scans the news, select the LEGO blocks of his choice based on his/her interest, restructure them, and then consume his own LEGO creation.

27. Dr. Uğur KÜÇÜKÖZYİĞİT Gazi Üniversity, Faculty of Communication Ankara-TURKEY (ugurkucukozyigit@yahoo.com)