A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CYBERSECURITY NEWS IN TURKISH MEDIA

Abstract

During the past twenty years, a new concept of security called “cybersecurity” has come to
the fore. Despite having no totally agreed-upon definition, cyber-security refers to a different
understanding of security. In other words, military measures are not the main instruments to
provide that kind of security. In a similar vein, as a result of globalization and the
developments in information technologies, cybersecurity has become more critical for both
governments and international organizations. Not only in Turkey, but in many other countries,
the more digitalized the world has become, the more popular and debated cybersecurityrelated
issues have become in media discourse. On the other hand, it is known that, recently
critical discourse analysis has been a quite useful analytical tool for researchers to analyze
news discourse. Discourse historical approach is a methodological tool in critical discourse
studies which stresses the significance of historical context within which the discourse is
embedded and the power relations can be analyzed. This article serves two purposes: First is
to shed light on the concept of cybersecurity in general and the second is to analyze the state
of cybersecurity in media of Turkey in particular. In this sense, cybersecurity-related news in
Turkish print and online media play a key role in monitoring cybersecurity in Turkey. The
news will be analyzed through applying Critical Discourse Analysis (Discourse Historical
Approach in this study). The main conclusion of the study is that cybersecurity-related news
cannot have a self-isolated nature like national security news and cyber threats are similar
although the countries differ.