International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The media landscape of West Asia includes countries and media systems as diverse as Turkey, with big media conglomerate holdings; Lebanon, whose media strongly influence developments in the Arab media sector, state-controlled Syrian media, partly controlled media under the Palestinian National Authority (PNA); and pro-government media in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The media market of Turkey (population estimate 68 million) has changed from family-owned media enterprises to large media empires that have additional stakes in construction, banking, and other industries (→  Media Conglomerates ). This applies not only to the press but also to →  Radio and →  Television , so that the majority of national dailies and television stations are owned by a few media holdings. The largest is Doğan Group, which owns influential dailies Hürriyet , Milliyet , Radikal , Posta , and numerous other publications, several publishing houses, three TV channels ( CNN Türk , Kanal D , Star TV ), and radio stations, followed by the Merkez Group and smaller media holdings (→  Cross-Ownership ; Ownership in the Media ). The popular private television stations offer a diet of entertainment, sports and news, and locally produced dramas, but there are also several thematic channels for news ( CNN Türk , NTV , Habertürk ) and music ( Kral TV , Number One TV ) alongside Islamic TV stations ... log in or subscribe to read full text