The French Revolution’s Gift to the Ottomans: The Newspaper. The Emergence of Turkish Media
Ali BUDAK

Abstract
The beginning of the history of journalism in the Ottoman Empire is generally accepted to have occured with the publication of Takvim-i Vekayi, a journal of official character, in 1831. Actually, the first mass communication medium which can be called a newspaper is “Takvim”. However, like social events, social phenomena do not emerge instantly either. They is always a preparatory stage involved. From this point of view, it is noted that actually Takvim was also the continuation link of a fairly long chain of events by Ottomans. We can in fact mention two important turning points experienced by the Ottomans prior to the emergence of this official gazette. Our study aims to reassess the emergence of journalism in the Ottoman Empire together with these aforementioned preliminary periods. Thus, in this manner, we hope that it will be possible to trace both the sort of conception the ultimate purpose with which Takvim-i Vekayi was published and how the foundations of private journalism were cast thereafter, with a much broader perspective.

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