(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
During the analysis period, a great number of advertorial news pieces are presented in
the newspaper supplements. A wide range of information about the facilities of food,
entertainment and holiday places, their prices and reservation phone numbers were included
in the news content. Besides, a variety of advertorial news pieces on shopping store discounts,
product diversity and brands, liquor brands, accessories, electronics/computer products stood
out on the pages of the supplements. In this context, it could be claimed that the magazine
supplements of the analyzed newspapers are full of examples which prove the stated
condition.
In addition to that, Akşam also included advertisements in its supplements related to
diagonal promotion. There was 1 advertorial news piece in ”Akşam Saturday” and two in
“Akşam Sunday” concerning Digiturk, which is an encoded satellite television provider
owned by diagonally monopolized Çukurova Conglomerate. Advertorial news pieces of the
same corporation’s men’s magazine called “Maxim” (3) and “automobile magazine” called
“Autocar” were published in “Siesta” every weekend throughout the analysis period.
Conclusion and Evaluation
Along the last quarter of twentieth century, it can be assumed that western capitalist
societies, with the developing peripheral countries like Turkey, have entered a new phase and
the structure of societies has been determined by the new economic dynamics. Undoubtedly
media is not out of the picture with its diagonally monopolized structure.
In this context, as a result of the analysis of the weekend supplements of the analysis
unit newspapers; other than advertisements, advertorial news and advertisements regarding
diagonal promotion make up an important part of the income source. Dallas Smythe (1977)
emphasized the need to attribute political economy of media to the analysis of the commodity
they sell. In Smythe’s opinion, audience is a commodity which completely belongs to media.
The main function of media is not to present opinion packages to the audience but to meet the
audience with the advertisers.
During the analysis period, it has been observed that the advertorial news pieces
published in the newspapers’ magazine supplements are similar to each other quantitatively
and qualitatively. Analysis period’s coinciding with “Father’s Day”, “university/high school
graduation ceremonies” and the start of “summer” holiday made the advertorial center around
basically food/entertainment/holiday/shopping stores and other related sectors such as
clothing, accessories, and electronic commodities.
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