Usage of press as a hegemonic struggle field

This study discusses ideological effects on media content. According to Hallin (1986), while journalists may serve as defenders and/or sanctifiers in a sphere of consensus, they may also expose those unrelated to politics to harsh criticism, blame and even exclude them from any fair discussion driving them into a sphere of deviance. Antagonism between soldiers and the ruling power in Turkey usually takes place via the media. The discourse of the national press in recent years has illustrated the confrontation of hegemonic military and the civil elites. While the power of Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in Turkey remained indisputable and even untouchable until recently, with the news discourse, this institution was drawn into a lengthy conflict. Power of the press regarding shifts of hegemonic powers in a society is inevitable. In this study, analysis of news about TAF was carried out relying on the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe. More specifically, we focused on the "Sledgehammer Coup Plan" as was published in the Turkish daily, Taraf, on Jan 20, 2010. The study presents two significant points: (1) it describes how ideological structuring was shaped via media discourses, and (2) it interprets how conflicts between the military and the civilian powers occurred in Turkey. Bringing together the hegemonic, political and economic structures via discourse, this study suggests that hegemonic ideology of powers can be changed through the media. Copyright © 2012 (Nuket Elpeze Ergec)