Mediated Justice: Turkish Newspapers' Coverage of Controversial Criminal Cases

Abstract

This study is a content analysis of news coverage of three criminal cases in four (Cumhuriyet, Hurriyet, Sabah, Zaman) Turkish national newspapers. Those cases were extensively discussed on both national and international levels and they became symbols in the quest for justice in the country. The brutal beheading of 17-year-old Munevver Karabulut, 76-year-old Vakit columnist Huseyin Uzmez's sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, and finally a Turkish human rights activist, 29-year-old Engin Ceber's being tortured and killed in police custody were used as tools to present Turkish printed press's construction of a perception of justice.