Ql - ITO

84 İSTANBUL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
higher in some specific social and professional categories such as housewives,
retired or people with problems of involving in outdoor
activities.
Audience measurement studies point out that the most watched programs
in Turkey in annual average are, despite periodic and short term changes, local
TV series,. According to field surveys conducted through face-to-face
questionnaire method, the results are slightly different: N ews or prime time
news are the most watched programs, and TV series are in the second rank. For
example, according to the survey conducted by RTSC (Radio and Television
Supreme Council) in 2009, news are in the first rank with a ra te of 93.7 % in
the list of the most watched programs, "local TV series" are in the second rank
with a rate of 86.2 %. However, this could be resulted from the difference
between declaration and behaviour as often observed in studies on conviction
and social behaviour. In other words, people prefer declaring "socially
acceptable behaviour" rather than saying the truth. Moreover, according to the
RTSC's survey, "religious programs" occupy the third rank with a rate of 61.8
& in the list of most watched programs, this also signifies a deviation resulted
from the methodology, because in spite of such a popularity as declared by the
audience, there is no such a high demand for such programs in the television
market. On the contrary, as w e have seen above in the seetion analysing the
broadcasting stream of some selected channels, such programs do not occupy a
large part to constitute a separate category 56 even in the channels giving a
special emphasis to religious-spiritual matters. Periodic tendencies should be
taken into account regarding this topic. month of is a very special
period in Turkey because of i ts sanctity for Muslims. Even channels which do
not broadcast religious-spiritual programs in other months of the year contain
many programs discussing importance of Ramadan dev o tion during this
special period.
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For this reason, in our study of analysis, programs with religious content were analysed
according to their structural features under the titles of education-culture or discussion.