Does new media have a destructive effect on the political public sphere in Türkiye? The literature on the relationship between new media and the public sphere can be viewed as a collection of responses to this research question. However, the focus of this study is not the question itself, but the conditions of possibility for answering it. We aim to offer a metatheoretical observation that enables us to categorize the relevant lines of discussion—from superficial to profound—based on these conditions. The main argument is that answering the question is not legitimate unless these conditions are fulfilled. In this framework, the first part introduces the structure of the metatheoretical observation, which addresses the transition from empirical data to factual explanation and normative propositions, in connection with the research question. The second part presents data on new media supply and user habits in Türkiye, and provides a brief review of the national literature. The third part evaluates the literature’s capacity for metatheoretical reflexivity. As expected, our analysis intersects with Habermas, given the lasting influence of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and the impact of his later works on the field. The conclusion offers several suggestions for future research.