This research seeks to understand the political, economic, geographical and cultural discussions in the British media representation of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union (EU). The idiosyncratic aspect of the topic is that both Turkey and the British media have a special relationship with the EU. Turkey is the only inveterate EU membership candidate. No country has waited at the front door of the EU as long as Turkey yet. There are different reasons behind this and they make the issue interesting to contemplate. In addition to Turkey’s different status compared to the EU membership candidacy processes of other countries, the thesis also takes into account the different and awkward relationship between the EU and the UK, and inevitably the British media. Therefore, the analytical framework of the thesis draws on the notion of ‘a positive Other’ while explaining the media representation of Turkey’s EU bid. The research also highlights the ‘essentialist’ and ‘functionalist’ approaches in its attempt to explain the differences within the EU in understanding the fundamentals of the EU and the view about Turkish membership. The research sought to explore how Turkey’s EU bid was represented in the British media by focusing on one main research question, namely, ‘How was Turkey’s EU bid represented in the British media?’ In order to answer this question in a systematic way, the study employs a triangulation of different methods. In the empirical chapters, the study first looks at the coverage of different important periods in Turkey-EU relations between 1999 and 2006. The news items published in these periods by six news organisations from the British media are analysed by using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Secondly, the thesis presents an analysis of how the coverage was produced. The analysis is based on the semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with the journalists who work, or had worked, for the British media and who had published news items about Turkey-EU relations. The data gathered from the interviews are presented by employing Shoemaker and Reese’s (1996) hierarchical model. In the concluding chapter of the thesis, the findings from the research are linked to the notion of ‘a positive Other’.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:561060 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Paksoy, Alaaddin F. |
| Contributors | Negrine, Ralph ; Conboy, Martin |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2907/ |
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