The Presentati̇ on of 2008 and 2012 U.S. Presi̇ denti̇ al Electi̇ ons İn Turki̇ sh press

U.S. presidential elections (U.S.A.) have always been an agenda for the whole world. In2008, when a black man became a candidate for the White House, it drew the whole world sto attention to the U.S.A. This black man was Barack Hussein Obama who was going to makehistory after becoming the president. The fact that Obama became the frst black president inthe White House by winning 2008 elections was considered as a revolution regarding Americanhistory. In 2012, Obama announced his candidacy and was re-elected. Obama with his thesetwo election victories became a current issue not only in Turkey but also all around the world.The aim of this study is to analyze 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential elections in selectedTurkish newspapers in terms of their frequency of being in the front page, their positions inthe newspapers, and the newspapers approaches to this issue. In the study, a comparison ofhow these two periods took place in press was made. How and with what kinds of differencesthese 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential elections were refected in Turkish press forms the mainquestion of this study. A qualitative and quantitative content analysis method was used in thestudy in which 20 days of each election periods were analyzed. The study is important in termsof determining Turkey-US relations and seeing how U.S. elections were refected in Turkishpress. According to the fndings in the study, Turkish press have shown interest in both the 2008elections and the 2012 elections.Key words: U.S.A., 2008 presidential elections, 2012 presidential elections, qualitativeand quantitative content analysis, Turkish press, agenda setting theory