THE LEADER PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE PRESS IN NOVEMBER 3

THE LEADER PHOTOGRAPHS IN
THE PRESS IN
NOVEMBER 3, 2002 GENERAL
ELECTION PERIOD IN TURKEY
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hülya Yengin
Kocaeli University, Communication Faculty
Kocaeli, Istanbul
2.Pictures Political Leaders on Posters
3.Photograph taken during meetings
4.Photographs with the public and especially with
children
5.Pictures of leaders with local customs taken during
political campaigns.
6.Photographs taken during stars activities practiced
by leaders
Introduction
This study focuses on the photographs, the text
under the pictures and the title of the news items
related to the general elections in Turkey held on
November 3, 2002.
Our study analysed the photographs of political
leaders which appeared during the dates of June 16
and November 4 in seven major papers.
They were Cumhuriyet with a daily avarege
circulation of Hürriyet, Sabah, Milliyet, Vatan, Akflam,
Star.
The photographs were categorized according to the
topical content of the news item.
1.Photographs of Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit Prior
to Elections
7.Pictures of leaders together with famous individuals
who have joined their party
8.Other pictures taken during the political campaign
which were newsworthy
9.Picture of political leaders appearing in the press
after a television programme involving his views
10.Pictures of leaders published after the election
results were announced
Anaysis
1. Photographs of Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit Prior
to Election
In June 2002 The Turkish Media started to discuss
the issue of the Prime Ministers Health. Since
Turkish political activities are centered around
leaders the discussions focused on whether he was
able to lead the country and the government or not
due to his illness. Bülent Ecevit’s previous images
focused on wearing a blue shirt, having white
pigeons in the shots and wearing a captains hat.
Turkish media changed this image to one of a “sick
man”.
These pictures were a clean indication of his illness.
These pictures can be considered the begining of the
media attention on the elections which followed in
November.
2. Pictures of leaders on posters
Today it is diffcult to imagine a succesful political
candidate whose face is not known to the public-atlarge. This has not always been true. The visual
packaging of politicans only dates back to the midnineteenth century, when photograph began to allow
physical appearances to circulate as never before.
The first presidental candidate to benefit from this
development was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s
election prospects were enchanced by an 1860
campaign photo portrait of him, made by the
prominent New York studio photographer Matthew
Brady. (Ewen: 1996: 151)
Murat Bardakç› in the article appearing in Hürriyet
Newspaper on July 7, 2002 started off with the
following title. “90 years later same picture of a sick
man”. He made a connection between the sick Sultan
Reshad of 1912 with the ill Bülent Ecevit of 2002.
In another article titles “A Sad Sitution” published on
August 28, 2002 in the Star Newspaper a picture
showed Ecevit losing his balance while trying to
stand up during an army ceremony.
Photographic historian Suzan Kismaric describes the
process: In preparing his subject for the “shoot”,
Brady modified Lincoln’s gangling appearance by
pulling up the candidate’s collar to make his neck
look shorter, he also retouched the photograph to
remove the harsh lines in Lincoln’s face. (Ewen:
1996: 151)
Pictures of leaders appearing in the printed media
are primarily portraits emphasizing a smiling face.
Some pictures show half a body above the belt. The
prototype of clothes is usually a dark coloured suit,
light coloured shirt and a blue or red neck tie. They
exhibit the image of a serious person.
‹smail Cem, Devlet Bahçeli, Do¤u Perinçek, Sadettin
Tantan, Deniz Baykal fit this prototype of a leader.
Tansu Çiller being a woman and prefering to wear
white clothes is different from other leaders.
Cem Uzan also exhibits a different image than all the
others. He prefers white shirts and projects an active
image as he is trying to reach the hands that are
extended towards him. Most of his picture he is
shown using his rigth arm as an ambitious, dynamic
and challenging individual with matching facial
expressions.
3. Leader Photographs in political meetings
Public meetings during an election campaign usually
held in the open air give the impression of a carnaval
or fair. The leader is on stage as the principal action.
An artificial world of entertainment different from the
real world is presented. Political messages are given
as a pill.
Leaders are usually placed in a high platform faceing
the people. As in a stage. A second location where
campaign speeches are given is the roof of a
bus.The leaders usually are far from the people in
such meetings. In the “star system” of political
leadership a leader is attractive if he addressess the
maximum number of people as infrequently as
possible. (Sennett: 1996: 363) Bülent Ecevit has
used his pictures taken during mass gathering in the
ads publiched in newspapers.
The pictures showing him hand in hand with his wife
Rahflan Ecevit elicits the desired response from his
audience. The large banners used in this meetings
are Turkish flats, photographs of Atatürk, photographs
of Ecevit, picture of a white pigeon when is the party
amblem.
Others leaders address the public in a high platform
or the roof of a bus wearing white shirts and full body
pictures.
According to Sennett leaders do not
develop interactive relations with their
public but prefer to control them. The
people have lost their self confidence
in terms of their ability to evaluate the
leaders consequently, the voter has
eroded its ability to become part of a
“public” (Sennett: 1996: 326)
The carnaval atmospheres and the
colorful
scenes
increase
its
effectiveness as the education level of
the audience decreases.
4. Pictures of leaders meeting the
public and especially hugging children.
The distance between a leader and the
public narrows down as he mingles
with his audience where he can
express emotions through hugging babies, children,
women and handcapped individuals.
5. Pictures of leaders in local costums
Leaders who travel throughout the provinces in
Turkey wear local costumes to become part of their
public. This behaviour is used to elicit emotional
reactions.
6. Pictures of leaders doing sports
Leaders wearing sweats or shorts project an image
of dynamism and youth and is therefore an important
factor in image formation.
7. Pictures of leaders with famous people who have
joined their party. News photographs showing movie
and entertainment stars famous academics joining a
leaders party with a ceremony are also an important
component of image making.
During the political campaigns all parties used
meetings, songs, jingles, press conferences,
billboards, posters, newspapers ads, internet ads,
mobile phone messages, brochurs, booklets, party
banners, concerts, television and similar means to
communicate their messages.
In fax political campaigns which were staged around
a single indivudual led to the creation of star industry.
The television channel “Kanal D” broadcasted a
discussion with Recep Tayyip Erdo¤an the current
Prime Minister and Deniz Baykal, leader of the
opposition party on October 25, 2002.
8. Other pictures by leaders that are newsworth
during an electoral campaign.
Leader visits to Atatürk mousoleum accompanied by
other members of his party and giving speeches from
a podium are the other subjects of photographs
appearing in the media.
9. Pictures of leaders appearing in the press after
politically oriented television programs.
Political parties in Turkey started receiving
assistance from advertising agencies after 1983
Elections.
The Republican Peoples Party (CHP) retained the
services of Kanguru and IRA, two Turkish Advertising
Agencies.
Motherland Party (Anap) worked with the ‹stanbul
Agencies, True Path Party (DYP) worked with
Cenajans. The Demokratic Left Party (DSP) worked
with Klan Ajans, The Justice and Development Party
(AKP) with Arter Ajans, The National Movement
Party (MHP) with Advise Ajans, The Youth Party
(Genç Parti) worked with Ali Taran in managing their
electoral campaigns.
Three works before elections. In the program titles
“Elections Arena” hosted by U¤ur Dündar. Both
candidates wore dark suits with Baykal prefering a
red necktie and Erdo¤an wore a wine colored
necktie. These details are indicative of the
importance placed on non-verbal communication by
political leaders. Leaders that don’t get into a fight on
polemics are found to be successful speakers.
Media determined these two leaders as favorites and
thereby was able to guide the electrote.
10. Leaders’ pictures published after election results
were announced on November 4, 2002.
The images become far more important than the
substance. (Pratkanis; Aranson: 2002: 146)
A political leader’s image is central to the star
system. The leader is a marketed product. His or her
party and ideology has been pushed to the back
burner. The leaders image has taken the place of the
ideological contend of his party. In terms of
influencing voting decisions there is a rapid change
from a party to a leader.
The results of this recent election indicated practicaly
a landslide vote for AKP enabling its formation of a
government by itself. CHP is the principal and only
opposition party in the parliament. The other parties
were unable to reach the minimum number of votes
required to get into the parliament.
When election results were announced pictures of
the two leaders of AKP and CHP showed smiling
faces, posing with self confidence which were
reflected in the titles of news stories and the text
underneath the photographs. In contrast the pictures
of Tansu Çiller , Mesut Y›lmaz and Devlet Bahçeli’s
pictures showed them with very sad faces indicating
their loss. The press did not give much space to the
pictures of the ex-prime minister Bülent Ecevit.
Conclusions
Photographs reflect the moment the picture is taken.
‹t is open ended and provides multiple meanings.
The text underneath the picture tells us why the
picture was taken. It guides us in understanding and
interpreting the picture. The text under the picture
anchorage and description as denomination.
In order to interpret leader’s photographs we have
used the different interpretations of non-verbal
communication. (Fiske: 1996: 95-97)
Body contact, closeness, direction, image, movements
of the head, facial expressions, jests, position, eye
movements and eye contact are components of nonverbal communication used effectivelly by political
leaders. On the other hand Sampson defines the
complete image formation with “physical features,
clothing and good looking clothes and accessories”.
(Y›ld›z: 2002: 23, 29)
Journalists would be lost without the information and
the angles they get from their opposite numbers in
public relations practitioners need the journalistic
apparatus to reach their audiences. Both occupations
are storytellers engaged in fashioning moral
discourse within certain frameworks. (Jackall; Hirota:
2000: 112)
References
a. Books
-Sennett, Richard (1996) “Kamusal ‹nsan›n Çöküflü”,
çev: S. Dural›, A. Y›lmaz, Ayr›nt› Yay, ‹stanbul.
-Fiske, John (1996) “‹letiflim Çal›flmalar›na Girifl”,
çev: Süleyman ‹rvan, Ark Yay., Ankara.
-Y›ld›z, Nuran (2002) “Türkiye’de Siyasetin Yeni
Biçimi: Liderler, ‹majlar ve Medya”, Phoenix Yay›nlar›,
Ankara.
-Yücel, Tahsin (1997) “‹nsanl›k Güldürüsünde Yüzler
ve Bildiriler”, YKY, ‹stanbul.
-Robert, Jackall; Janice M. Hirota (2000) “Image
Makers”, Chicago Press, Chicago.
-Ewen,Stuart, (1996), “PR: A Social History of SPIN”
Basic Books, New York.
-‹rfan Erdo¤an (2002), “‹letiflimi Anlamak”, Erk Yay.
Ankara.
-Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, 20 Ekim 2002, s. 3.
-Sabah Gazetesi, 26 Ekim 2002, s. 5.
-Anthony Pratkanis; Elliot Aronson, (2000), “Age of
Propaganda”, Freeman Com., New York.
-Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, 20 Ekim 2002, s. 20.
b. Newspapers
-Ayfle Arman, “Bülent Ecevit’in hastal›¤› o tart›flmay›
yeniden bafllatt›: Gazetecilik mi? ‹nsanl›k m›?”
Hürriyet Gazetesi, Pazar Eki, 16 Haziran, 2002, s.
13.
-Tufan Türenç, “K›sa f›rt›nadan sonra yükselifl”,
Hürriyet Gazetesi, 26 Ekim 2002, s. 27.
-Murat Bardakç›, “90 y›l sonra yine ayn› hasta adam
foto¤raf›”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 7 Temmuz 2002, s. 7.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, “Siyasetin Yeni Foto¤raf›”, 9 Eylül
2002, s. 23.
-Cevheri Güven, “Hazin bir durum”, Star Gazetesi, 28
A¤ustos 2002, s. 1.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, “Meyve Sofras›”, 9 Eylül 2002, s.
1.
-Milliyet Gazetesi, 4 Ekim 2002, s. 1.
-Ramazan Yavuz, “Bu Kez fiiir De¤il Tasavvuf”,
Milliyet Gazetesi, 30 Eylül 2002, s. 18.
-TV’ye ç›kacaklar, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 22 Ekim 2002,
s. 23.
-Sabah Gazetesi, 4 Ekim 2002, s. 5.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 13 Ekim 2002, s. 20.
-Sabah Gazetesi, 26 Ekim 2002, s. 23.
-Milliyet Gazetesi, “Ac› Ama Gerçek”, 30 Eylül 2002,
s. 1.
-“AKP’den Geri Ad›m Yok”, Sabah Gazetesi, 25 Ekim
2002, s. 22.
-Sabah Gazetesi, Ekonomi Eki, 26 Ekim 2002, s. 9.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 25 Ekim 2002, s. 10.
-Sabah Gazetesi, Günayd›n Eki, 26 Ekim 2002, s. 1.
-“Gaflar›n Gaf›: Allah’› size emanet ediyorum”,
Hürriyet Gazetesi, 13 Ekim 2002, s. 21.
-Fatma Can, “Reklam ve Konserle Baraja Koflan
Parti”, Sabah Gazetesi, 7 Eylül 2002, s. 18.
-Sabah Gazetesi, Pazar Eki, 20 Ekim 2002, s. 5.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 25 Ekim 2002, s. 4.
-“Ecevit YTP’de: Bülent Ecevit’in Kuzeni Siyasi
Tercihini Yapt›”, Milliyet Gazetesi, 26 A¤ustos 2002,
s. 16.
-Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, 24 Ekim 2002, s. 2.
-Sabah Gazetesi, 25 Ekim 2002, s. 2.
-“Seçim Takvimi Belli Oldu”, Milliyet Gazetesi, 6
A¤ustos 2002, s. 15.
-Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, 15 Ekim 2002, s. 2.
-Akflam Gazetesi, 12 Temmuz 2002.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 20 Ekim 2002, s. 5.
-Serhat O¤uz, Esra Kurt, “Cem Coflkusu”, Milliyet
Gazetesi, 23 A¤ustos 2002, s. 1.
-Sabah Gazetesi, 21 Ekim 2002, s. 2.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 19 Ekim 2002, s. 43.
-“Cem’e Coflkulu Karfl›lama”, Cumhuriyet Gazetesi,
23 A¤ustos 2002, s. 1.
-“Rakiplerimizi Korkuttuk Galiba”, Hürriyet Gazetesi,
9 Eylül 2002, s. 22.
-“Me¤er Demokrasi Gelmemifl”, Radikal Gazetesi, 17
Eylül 2002, s. 1.
-Balçiçek Pamir, “Tansu Çiller ve Kad›nlar”, Sabah
Gazetesi, Pazar Eki, 20 Ekim 2002, s. 19.
-“Seçim Arenas›”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 25 Ekim 2002,
s.19.
-“Ya Say› Saymay› Bilmiyorlar Ya da”, Milliyet
Gazetesi, 29 Ekim 2002, s. 18.
-“Gönüllerde ‹ki Galip”, Milliyet Gazetesi, 26 Ekim
2002, s. 16.
-“Bahçeli’nin A tak›m› Delege Vetosu Yedi”, Hürriyet
Gazetesi, 9 Eylül 2002, s. 22.
-“Kavgas›z da Oluyormufl”, Milliyet Gazetesi, 26 Ekim
2002, s. 1.
-Milliyet Gazetesi, 11 A¤ustos 2002, s. 21.
-“fiafl›rtt›lar”, Vatan Gazetesi, 26 Ekim 2002, s. 1.
-Tufan Türenç, “Çöküfl Gecesinden ‹ktidar
Aray›fl›na”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 25 Ekim 2002, s. 22.
-“Seviniyoruz Ama Göbek Atam›yoruz”, Hürriyet
Gazetesi, 4 Kas›m 2002, s. 21.
-Derya Sazak, “Devlet A’dan Z’ye De¤iflecek”,
Milliyet Gazetesi, 26 A¤ustos 2002, s. 14.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 4 Kas›m 2002, s. 1.
-“Kot ve Topukla Sabah Sporu”, Hürriyet Gazetesi,
21 Ekim 2002, s. 22.
-Sabah Gazetesi, 16 Ekim 2002, s. 5.
-Zaman Gazetesi, 24 A¤ustos 2002, s. 1.
-“Yeni Bir Türkiye Yarataca¤›z”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 24
A¤ustos 2002, s. 20.
-“Sosyal Patlama Sand›kta Oldu”, Hürriyet Gazetesi,
4 Kas›m 2002, s. 1.
-“Anap Nas›l Eridi”, Sabah Gazetesi, 4 Kas›m 2002,
s. 19.
-“DYP Nas›l Eridi”, Sabah Gazetesi, 4 Kas›m 2002, s.
18.
-fiamil Tayyar, “Bahçeli Çekiliyor”, Sabah Gazetesi, 4
Kas›m 2002, s. 24.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 5 Eylül 2002, s. 19.
-“CHP’de Türkçe Ezan Krizi”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 1
Ekim 2002, s. 1.
-Akflam Gazetesi, 16 Eylül 2002.
-“Nurcan’›m› Vermedi Yeni Söz Yazd›”, Hürriyet
Gazetesi, 24 A¤ustos 2002, s. 21.
-“CHP Ata’n›n Huzurunda”, Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, 10
Eylül 2002, s. 1.
-“Modern Muhafazakar Yeni Sa¤”, Hürriyet Gazetesi,
5 Eylül 2002, s. 19.
-Hürriyet Gazetesi, 30 Eylül 2002, s. 9.
-“Sa¤›n Liderleri Tam Bir fiok Yaflad›”, Sabah
Gazetesi, 4 Kas›m 2002, s. 1.
-Ayfle Arman, “Baflkan’›n Bütün Zamanlar›”, Hürriyet
Gazetesi, Pazar Eki, 10 Kas›m 2002, s. 10-11.