Bilge Yeşil, a professor of media culture at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and an affiliate faculty of Middle Eastern Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, joins Turkey recap editor Diego Cupolo to discuss media and communication strategies in Turkey.
Yeşil lays out how Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration presents itself as a benevolent global actor and “voice of the voiceless” that pushes back on Western hypocrisy through a network of state-funded media institutions and pro-government news channels.
The talk deconstructs the way Ankara seeks to frame narratives with the use of “strategic obfuscation”, which presents Erdoğan’s administration in a positive light for domestic and global audiences. Also included are leadership changes at the Directorate of Communications, new digital media trends and how both impact government communication strategies.
Referenced in this talk:
Talking Back to the West: How Turkey Uses Counter-Hegemony to Reshape the Global Communication Order (University of Illinois)
Turkey enters the global media stage with TRT World (TRT World)
Türkiye leads Muslim nations in addressing Islamophobia (TRT World)
Fahrettin Altun sacked as Türkiye’s comms director in major overhaul (Türkiye Today)
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Diego Cupolo, Editor-in-chief
Emily Rice Johnson, Deputy editor
Ceren Bayar, Parliament correspondent
Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu, Parliament correspondent
Günsu Durak, Stüdyo recap editor
Demet Şöhret, Social media and content manager
