Skip to content
1981
Volume 14, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2001-0818
  • E-ISSN: 2049-9531

Abstract

Ritzer’s McDonaldization theory is based on the idea that the business model of the McDonald’s has exceeded the context of restaurants and reached almost all aspects of social life.1 The presence of McDonaldization is still felt in many different business lines around the world. In this study, it is aimed to discuss whether the traces of McDonaldization are seen in digital journalism in Turkey. Within the scope of the study, which is exploratory rather than generalizing, semi-structured interviews were conducted with news editors from Turkey’s top three most visited news websites, according to SimilarWeb’s November 2019 data. The data obtained were subjected to thematic analysis. Accordingly, in digital journalism in Turkey, there are traces of efficiency, calculability, predictability, control and irrationality of rationality which constitute the dimensions of McDonaldization. It has been emphasized that the McDonaldization theory has the potential to explain the problems of digital journalism in Turkey, such as the decrease in the quality of news, the standardization of news websites and the alienation of news editors from their own products.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00100_1
2023-01-18
2026-04-13

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Ahuvia, A. and Izberk-Bilgin, E. (2011), ‘Limits of the McDonaldization thesis: eBayization and ascendant trends in post-industrial consumer culture’, Consumption Markets and Culture, 14:4, pp. 36184.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alhojailan, M. I. (2012), ‘Thematic analysis: A critical review of its process and evaluation’, West East Journal of Social Sciences, 1:1, pp. 3947.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Aronson, J. (1994), ‘A pragmatic view of thematic analysis’, The Qualitative Report, 2:1, pp. 15.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Ayhan, B. (2007), ‘Yeni iletişim teknolojileri ve online gazetecilik’ (‘New communication technologies and online journalism’), in B. Arık and M. Şeker (eds), Bir Sorun Olarak Gazetecilik (‘Journalism as a problem’), Konya: Tablet Yayınları, pp. 295325.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006), ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3:2, pp. 77101.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Brock, G. (2013), Out of Print: Newspapers, Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital Age, London: Kogan Page.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Çeşmeci, M. H. (2018), ‘Türkiye’de turizmin Mcdonaldlaştırılması: Bir turistik ürün olarak paket tur incelemesi’ (‘McDonaldization of tourism in Turkey: An analysis of the package tours as a tourism product’), master’s thesis, Ankara: Hacettepe University.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Çevikel, T. (2004), ‘Türkçe haber siteleri ve Türkiye’de İnternet gazeteciliğinin gelişimini sınırlayan faktörler’ (‘Turkish news websites and the factors limiting the development of Internet journalism in Turkey’), Galatasaray Üniversitesi İleti-ş-im Dergisi, 1, pp. 14763.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Duman, K. (2018), ‘Arama motorları ve İnternet haberciliğine etkileri: Türk İnternet haber medyası örneği’ (‘Search engines and their effects to the internet journalism: A sample of Turkish internet news media’), Selçuk İletişim, 11:1, pp. 25787.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Gürcan, H. İ. (2005), ‘İnternet haberciliğinde etik değerler’ (‘Ethic evaluations in internet journalism’), İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, 22, pp. 3946.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Işık, U. and Koz, K. A. (2014), ‘Çöp yığınlarında haber aramak: İnternet gazeteciliği üzerine bir çalışma’ (‘Lookıng for news in a load of junk: A study on internet journalısm’), Humanities Sciences, 9:2, pp. 2743.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Kawamoto, K. (2003), Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Kellner, D. (1999), ‘Theorizing/resisting McDonaldization: A multiperspectivist approach’, in B. Smart (ed.), Resisting McDonaldization, London: Sage, pp. 186206.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Narin, B. (2017), G@zetecilik 2.0: İnternet Gazeteciliğinde Hipermetinsellik (Journ@lism 2.0: Hypertextuality in Internet Journalism), Ankara: Gece Kitaplığı.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Pavlik, J. V. (2001), Journalism and New Media, New York: Columbia University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Phillips, A. (2015), Journalism in Context: Practice and Theory for the Digital Age, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Ritzer, G. (2016), Toplumun McDonaldlaştırılması (The Mcdonaldization of Society) (trans. A. E. Pilgir), Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Ritzer, G. (2019), The Mcdonaldization of Society, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Slattery, M. (2003), Key Ideas in Sociology, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Şimşek İşliyen, F. (2019), ‘Dijitalleşme ile birlikte yeniden şekillenen okuma pratikleri üzerine genel bir değerlendirme’ (‘A general evaluation on reading practices that have been reshaped with digitalization’), in M. İşliyen and F. Şimşek İşliyen (eds), Dijital Gazetecilik ve İletişim (Digital Journalism and Communication), Konya: Litaratürk Academia, pp. 14978.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Taylor, F. W. (1911), The Principles of Scientific Management, New York: Harper & Brothers.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Waisbord, S. (2019), ‘The 5Ws and 1H of digital journalism’, Digital Journalism, 7:3, pp. 35158.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Zelizer, B. (2019), ‘Why journalism is about more than digital technology’, Digital Journalism, 7:3, pp. 34350.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00100_1
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test