Differences in the Political Approaches in the Media in Communicating Forest News to the Public

Abstract

This study analyzes how national newspapers in T & uuml;rkiye reflect developments in forest issues to society. This analysis divides newspapers into two main groups: pro-government and opposition newspapers. The study focused on forest-related news in six national newspapers from 2019 and 2020. Thus, 573 news articles, columns, and interviews were analyzed. According to the results obtained, pro-government and opposition newspapers differ from each other in aspects, from topic selection to news content creation. Opposition newspapers tend to report on issues that focus on deforestation and forest degradation, such as the use of forests for non-forestry purposes, removal from the forest regime, and forest fires. However, pro-government newspapers report news that attempt to push such issues, which pose serious problems for the country's forests, off the public agenda. This attitude of the pro-government newspapers is unfavorable to the culture of democracy in the country and undermines the rationality of forest policies and practices.