An analysis of late ottoman media: Suicide reports in ottoman Turkish newspapers

his article aims to analyze the structure and evolution of the Late Ottoman media landscape through an examination of suicide news reports in the late nineteenth century. During this period, newspapers, a new Western media tool, were rapidly adopted by both state authorities seeking to inform the public and Ottoman intellectuals aiming to educate the masses. Investigating how suicide was represented provides a unique lens to understand emerging journalistic norms and narrative strategies. This study investigates nineteenth century Ottoman Turkish newspapers using the Wikilala and Müteferriqa databases. Through a query for the keyword 'intihar' (suicide), 124 news reports were identified and analyzed. These texts were drawn from 11 different newspapers published from mid to late nineteenth century. The analysis demonstrates that question of what these representations reveal about the Ottoman press during the late nineteenth century. The findings of the study seek not only to establish how the media constructed the discourse around suicide but also to shed light on the role and development of journalism as an institution in the late Ottoman Empire, serving as a case study for media history. The study shows that the late Ottoman press constructed suicide through two main discursive modes: foreign cases served as a safe arena for critique and sensationalism, while domestic cases were reported as concise factual notices with minimal interpretation. Although explicit discriminatory language is absent, the framing of motives reflects gendered and social norms, attributing men’s suicides to economic or moral strain and women’s to honor or emotional distress.