A Discussion on Media Systems in Turkey
5. Changes in the Media after June 24
in general, there is a tendency of “downsizing and closure” in the media after the June 24 elections.
Turgay Ciner's decision to close the Haberturk newspaper is one of them. It is suggested that Doğus group will also shrink and after the closure of NTV Spor for this purpose, major layoffs will be carried out at NTV.com.tr with STAR and NTV News centers (Media Radar, July 2, 2018). From an economic point of view, it is seen that the increase in the printing costs due to the fact that the newspapers which are close to government received the lion's share of the advertisements and the rapid rise in the dollar.
in fact, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ciner Holding also explained the unpredictable decline in the circulation of newspapers as a result of the tendency of the younger generation to move away from the printed press and to access the news via their mobile, on the other hand, the share of advertising in the media ecosystem is regularly lost. (Tekdag, 2018). Fatih Altayli, said that there had been a decrease in revenue of advertising since 2014, and it is now a sort of “political declaration” for the advertisers when choosing where to put their adverts or commercials and he also mentioned that it was like "this situation is about the total status in Turkey. Turkey will not be able to make newspapers investments in main media as long as they continue in this way”.
However, Fatih Selek from Turkiye newspaper also wrote an article about Haberturk and he said that though the newspaper is very good at the design, graphics and news, yet it has no ideology and he added that it is neither a supporter nor in opposition and the system has disposed everyone out of the system (July 9, 2018). Likewise, Ceren Sozeri stated that “the newspaper has become a misfit, being neither a pro-partner, nor letting the “fugitives” like Doğan Group had done to from time to time and they could react but later they had to apologize. As long as Hurriyet existed, it was clear that Haberturk could be needed at any time, but there was no need for Haberturk after it had fallen (Evrensel, 2018).
Garbis Kesisoğlu, in fact, emphasized that print media can co-exist with digital media and that later the death of print media is not inevitable in the face of the digital revolution. Despite the diversification of the news sources in the Turkish press, it is not clear how the title of a journalist or columnist in the newspapers are given to those including the movie stars, sound artists, fashion designers, businesmen, which in turn cheapened the profession and led to the loss of dignity. However, he underlined the importance of making newspapers investment in good reporters by saying that today's conditions require supporting investigative journalism, specialization and deepening of the news.
Considering the public broadcasting after the election, it is seen that rapid changes have been commenced in TRT according to Decree Law No. 703. With the regulation made in TRT Law No. 2954, TRT has been authorized to establish a company and to employ personnel who are experts in its field.
Thus, the institution will be able to become partner or buy the institutions it needs. Changes to be made in terms of technical and infrastructures lead to a downsizing in the number of personnel while aiming to update the institution with the arrangements made. Personnel designated as “the surplus personnel”
other than the retired personnel shall be appointed to different institutions and organizations, and staff such as producer and strategy consultant offices shall not be included. The regional directorates will be closed, the lodgings will be sold and the revenue will be evaluated during the investment process of the institution. All channels and auxiliary units are intended to be managed from a single center, while the center of the agency is planned to be moved to Istanbul (memurlar.net; Cumhuriyet, July 17, 2018).
The government continues to form media and communication channels in a virtual environment.
On the date of the sale of the Dogan Media Group, the law passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) was put into effect to control these within the framework of RTUK law. It is thought that the law which causes the discussions of censorship will be effective on critical platforms. As a matter of fact, in order to be able to make broadcasts on the internet, the institutions should get the broadcast license and the platform managers should receive broadcast transmission authorization from RTUK.
Selda Bulut, Serpil Karlidag
Thus, RTUK will be able to supervise all audio and visual broadcasts on the Internet in accordance with its own broadcasting principles, and inform the Information and Communication Technologies Authority about its publications that it finds unacceptable. The RTUK and the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) are expected to prepare a joint regulation within six months after the entry into force of the legal Regulation (dw.com, n.d.). Ismet Demirdoğen, the RTUK member elected from the CHP quota, evaluated the changes made in the Regulation with the words;
“Internet was under the double censorship of both RTUK and BTK” (Evrensel, March 23, 2018). The RTUK is currently composed of five members of the ruling party (AKP) and four members of the opposition, and serves as a qualification body for the government to regulate the broadcasting market (Yanardagoglu and Gokdemir, 2014). With the last regulation, digital TVs, websites, social media and media institutions can be prevented without going to courts.
6. Conclusion
The structure of the media market of Turkey’s media systems, political parallelism, professionalism and the role of the state reveals a more complex picture. Turkey seems to show the characteristics of media systems in the Mediterranean Media Systems as a category: low circulation of newspapers, orientation towards the elite, the late emergence of the press and the enormous influence of television as a news source can be mentioned.
Considering the interaction between the political system and the media, via which Turkey seemed to have reproduced the dominant political structure is quite significant. Along with the fact that the state is increasingly shaping both traditional and new media and getting more intrusive as well as being more clientelist networks carry the media in Turkey further from Halin and Mancini’s Pluralistic Polarized Model.The weakness of democracy, freedom of expression, and political culture lead to a more superficial and stifling media, while dissenting voices are less audible and more invisible.
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