“Flattening the curve”: Communication, risk and COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

Abstract

This study examines Turkish online news media coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. It explores media framing narratives, particularly how they reflected and promoted elite polarization or consensus in the COVID-19 debate. The findings shed light on Turkish political power dynamics during the first stage in the national response to the pandemic. The study highlights the calculations of political partisans who are keen on building a fragile consensus in an increasingly polarized society.

A Comparison of the Authoritarian Strategies Used by Brazil and Turkey to Tackle the COVID-19 Crisis

“…The pandemic has laid bare the perils of authoritarian crisis responses (Boschiero et al, 2021;Ferrante et al, 2021;Carnut et al, 2021). It is imperative for leaders to treat the threat of the virus seriously and prioritize public health, rather than downplaying the situation and placing their own interests above those of the populace (Moussa et al, 2023;Grančayová, 2021;Gulseven, 2021).…”