Media Values and Democratization: What Unites and What Divides Religious‐Conservative and Pro‐Secular Elites?

This article presents a systematic content analysis of three religious‐conservative and two pro‐secular newspapers in 1996–2004 in Turkey, and discusses some findings and their implications regarding elite values and democratization: considerable internal pluralism within both religious‐conservative and pro‐secular elites; general consensus on democracy but not on democratic norms' application to specific issues and groups other than one's own; a division of values on religion, secularism, and social pluralism; political value change in favor of liberal democracy but social conservatism among religious‐conservative elites; fragmentation and relative cynicism, but not necessarily authoritarianism, among pro‐secular elites; weak ideational change on the Kurdish issue. The article argues that the press plays a significant political role as a site where elite values change or are reproduced through discussion, deliberation, or silence. Values affect and are affected by political developments.