Turkish Media Itself Should Look In The Mirror

The Turkish press in particular and the informed public in general have reacted weakly to a recent accreditation ban imposed on some media organizations when they were denied access to meetings held by senior political leaders with selected senior journalists over the past weekend.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with the editors-in-chief of some dailies, excluding those who are usually outspoken on government's internal and external policies.
The indifference of the Turkish informed public in particular to media bans stems from a general internalization of anti-democratic practices in Turkey, which have risen since then-Prime Minister and current President Erdoğan's pursuing of authoritarian policies, which has continued up until the present time.
The Turkish media is accustomed to bans and smear campaigns that were initiated against them during the military regimes under which bureaucrats appointed by the military would share power with the elected civilian governments.
It was in the recent past, back in 2007, that the İstanbul offices of a weekly political magazine, Nokta, were stormed by the police acting on orders issued by military prosecutors, over its spectacular publication of the coup plan diaries of former naval forces commander retired Adm. Özden Örnek. In a separate story in the same year, Nokta published a list of the names of Turkish journalists and academics as well as nongovernmental organizations who were revealed to have been subject to a smear campaign by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on the grounds that they were critical of this institution due to its then-frequent interference into politics and its tradition of staging coups. Chief of General Staff retired Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt then admitted publicly the existence of a smear campaign initiated by the military against those on the list published by Nokta.
Nevertheless, Nokta, which had come under serious pressure, was obliged to close down.
The civilian governments that were ruling the nation under the shadow of a military system were equally suppressive of media outlets through their owners, who were deeply involved in state tenders.
At the time some journalists in key positions in their media organizations made fortunes in return for mediating between the owners of the daily that they were working for and the government in securing state tenders.
There is now a new type of journalist who replaced those who were remnants of the military system, who totally obey government instructions in return for earning high salaries.
Hence, today, we observe in the attitude of the current government towards the media that there has not been much change compared to previous years when the military-controlled system continued unabated. In parallel to its authoritarian instincts coming to the forefront, the government has increased its pressure on the media while introducing bans on social media, including Twitter.
It was ironic, for instance, that Davutoğlu was quoted early this week by some dailies as saying during the closed door meeting with some media outlets that he wanted to be remembered for his democratic credentials. The question then arises, how can Prime Minister Davutoğlu be remembered in the future for his democratic credentials if he himself imposes an accreditation ban on the media?
The media ownership structure in Turkey does not allow editorial independence. In addition, the absence of functioning unions safeguarding job security in the media prevents journalists from covering Turkish events in an objective manner.
Turkish journalists today have not only been facing the danger of losing their jobs but also prison sentences for their work.
International statistics on the state of journalists show how grave the situation is for Turkish journalists in this NATO member country.
For the second consecutive year, Turkey was the world's leading jailer of journalists, followed closely by Iran and China, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found in its Dec.18, 2013 report.
In total, the report said, Turkey together with Iran and China accounted for more than half of all journalists imprisoned around the world in 2013, of which the number is 211 altogether.
The Turkish government was also harshly criticized in several Turkish reports released in August of this year for intimidating media outlets and journalists critical of the government through tax fines and court cases, thereby dealing a huge blow to freedom of the press.
Despite the highly negative state of Turkish press freedom, I am of the opinion that Turkish media personnel and their organizations can force change if they join forces against censorship and leave behind their ideological differences.
We have to bear in mind that sometimes not only large groups but also individuals can also force change. Hence, the media should also look in the mirror to see what the mistakes are that they are making to have become so vulnerable to state pressures.

LALE KEMAL (Cihan/Today's Zaman)