THE REPRESENTATION OF “CHILD BRIDES” IN THE TURKISH PRESS

Child marriage described as to force female and male children to marry without completing their childhood and adolescence period is a type of children abuse. male children are affected negatively by early and forced marriages, but female children are the most damaged by this practice. because of early and forced marriages female children are not only destitute of right to education, but also they are excluded from social and political life because they are forced to become a mother in their early ages. another meaning of early and forced marriage, which is a type of violence with sexual, emotional and physical dimensions that women and female children are exposed to, refers to “child bride” problem within social life which is dominated by unequal gender relations..this study, focuses on “child bride”s representation in news which is an important social problem in turkey, defined globally as a child and human rights violation. the news which were broadcasted about “child brides” during january 2012 till november 2013 has been analyzed based on the news of the mainstream media hürriyet, posta and zaman. van dijk’s discourse analysis method was used during the analysis of the news. the main purpose of the study is, if the news related to child brides in newspapers are making any satisfying breakthrougs, in terms of finding a solition of the problems of social awareness and the production of effective public policy.