A piece of good news from me. My Book is Out: “Social Media and Politics in Turkey: A Journey through Citizen Journalism, Political Trolling, and Fake News”

Amazon link here.

Publisher’s link here

I will not able to share it for a while due to copyright issues. But in cases of fair use, please drop me an email and I will send a pre-publication draft PDF file…

Social Media and Politics in Turkey: A Journey through Citizen Journalism, Political Trolling, and Fake News
♦♦♦
Erkan Saka
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: A History of Turkey’s Internet
Chapter 2: A Turning Point: “İnternetime Dokunma” March
Chapter 3: The emergence of Citizen Journalism
Chapter 4: A Major Turning Point: Occupy Gezi
Chapter 5: Civic Emergences in the post-Gezi Period
Chapter 6: Early Models for Political Trolls
Chapter 7: The State of Fake News in Turkey

30% Discount
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*May not be combined with other offers and discounts, valid until 12/31/2020.

A great study of Turkish media cutting across political science, media studies and journalism. Saka’s analysis is revolutionary it its inclusion of all aspects relating to social media use politically in Turkey. It is fresh, insightful, well-research and surprisingly up-to-date in an area that keeps changing by the minute. The research is careful, sound, informed, concise and very much relevant to both the scholar and the everyday reader. A fresh look at Turkish media and politics that is on a solid path to be an instant classic.
— Murat Akser, Lecturer, University of Ulster

Organized around the seminal ‘Occupy Gezi Park’ events of 2013 and their aftermath, this meticulous account of the emergence of internet citizen journalism in Turkey by one of its pioneering figures ends with chapters on his courageous, remarkable ethnographic research on the emergence of pro-government trolls. The resulting mischief of ‘fake news’ appears depressingly in Turkey as elsewhere as the state has developed its own internet strategy. As an anitdote, Saka returns in his conclusion to the deeper tradition of online journalism that he chronicles to find not only hope, but inventive ideas and practices to counter the infestation of trolls. This is a meticulous, brilliantly explored work of committed ethnographic scholarship.
— George E. Marcus, University of California, Irvine

Saka’s book is an outstanding examination of Internet-based communicative and political practices in Turkey, rich in excellent empirical and ethnographic material. Anyone interested in social media and politics cannot afford to miss this book.
— Elisabetta Costa, University of Groningen, author of Social Media in Southeast Turkey

Social Media and Politics in Turkey is a timely and pioneering work that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date examination of the politics of social media in Turkey. In addition to providing a historical overview of Internet adaptation and use in Turkey, Saka explores the frontiers of online activism and counter-activism, shedding much-needed light both on state censorship and on more recent phenomena such as government-sponsored political trolling and the production of fake news to undermine opposition agendas. The book will be invaluable for anyone struggling to understand Turkey in a time when politics happens as much on the streets as on the Web.
— Joakim Parslow, University of Oslo