2016 SULTANAHMET TERROR ATTACK: GLOBALIZATION OF THE LOCAL

As a social issue in which the message is transmitted via violence, the terror acts are able to create the intended effect with the technological developments and opportunities offered by mass media. around 20 terror attacks hit turkey in the last five years and that resulted in fear and panic across the county. in that sense the language of media could differ whilst covering the stories. the attack by an isis-affiliated syrian suicide bomber killed tourists in istanbul sultanahmet district on january 12, 2016, was important, since it was the first terror attack in turkey that all victims and the assailant were foreigners. in this study, a qualitative and quantitative content analysis and framing analysis were conducted to turkish and international media to understand the way different media cover terror acts. the results provided a better understanding of the globalization of the news language on terror. 148 news articles were collected and analyzed from the websites of cumhuriyet, hürriyet, zaman, sabah, al jazeera, the new york times, euronews and the bbc. the results demonstrate that the identity of the assailant was as salient as the international security concerns. also, it is determined that the discussions on economics were more salient than the religion frame. in conclusion, international media coverage did not differ from turkish media, even though a media ban was imposed on turkish media, since both media depended mainly on the official sources which reveals a globalized language on terror acts on global media.