Killing Me Softly with His Words: Censorship and Self-Censorship from the Perspective of Turkish Journalists

Abstract

Turkey is a country where democratization process has been repeatedly interrupted by military interventions in the past 50 years. Censorship and self-censorship have become ordinary practices in the media, mainly due to weak parliamentary representations followed by oppressive coup periods. Yet even though a democratically elected government is currently in charge of the country, censorship of the press remains to be a common and systematic to silence alternative views. It is also claimed that self-censorship is widespread within the press. A report published by Freedom House in 2010 argues that while Turkish officials continue to enforce strict laws, journalists are frequently jailed for discussing issues such as the Kurdish problem, the military or political Islam. The government that is led by the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) is continuing to crack down on unfavorable press coverage. This article presents the findings of a survey titled “Censorship and Self-Censorship in Turkey, 2011.” The participants of the study were Turkish journalists and the questions revolved around their personal experiences with regards to censorship and self-censorship. Their answers reveal why Turkish media seldom makes news for public interest.

Notes

1 Fairchild, Dictionary of Sociology and Related Sciences, 86.

2 Keane, The Media and Democracy, 94–114.

3 Phillips and Harslof, “Censorship within Modern Democratic Societies,” 139–41.

4 Parenti, Inventing Reality and Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly.

5 Chomsky, Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Society, 21–44.

6 Phillips and Harslof, “Censorship within Modern Democratic Societies,” 141–3.

7 The Economist, “Turkey and Press Freedom: Publish and be damned” (European print edition news story, 2010). Accessed May 23, 2012. http://www.economist.com/node/17472834.

8 A special report on journalist İsmet Berkan's confession of self-censorship during the TV talk show in October 11, 2011, has appeared in an online journalism web site named “gazeteciler.com,” under the headline of: “İsmet Berkan'dan Hürriyet'te oto-sansür itirafı/Self censorship confession of Ismet Berkan” (gazeteciler.com news story, 2011). Accessed May 20, 2013. http://www.gazeteciler.com/medya-kosesi/ismet-berkandan-oto-sansur-itirafi-25496 h.html.

9 Finkel, “Turkey's Muzzeld Muckrackers” (NYT, Op-Ed, 2011). Accessed May 23, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/opinion/06iht-edfinkel06.html?_r=1.

10 Euractive Online, “Türk Medyasında Oto-sansür: Erdoğan'a protestoyu bugünkü gazeteler görmediler/Self-censorship in Turkish Press: Today's newspapers didn't cover the protest against Erdogan” 2011. Accessed May, 25, 2012. http://www.euractiv.com.tr/politika-000110/article/trk-medyasnda-oto-sansr-erdoana-protestoyu-grmediler-014900.

11 CPJ, “Turkey's Press Freedom Crisis: The dark days of jailing Journalists and Criminalizing Dissent,” (Turkey Report 2013). Accessed April 22, 2013. http://cpj.org/reports/2012/10/turkeys-press-freedom-crisis.php.

12 Nedim Şener was tried and acquitted in 2010 for his book implicating the Turkish security forces in the 2007 murder of the Turkish Armenian newspaper editor, Hrant Dink. Şener was arrested and accused of being part of the so-called Ergenekon plot, in which an alleged clandestine ultra-nationalist organization with ties to military and security forces is said to have plotted to use terrorism to overthrow the government. The investigation against Nedim Şener is being carried out by the same law-enforcement figures whom he accused of neglect in his book on Hrant Dink.

13 Ahmet Şık was writing a book against the Gülen movements’ influence on the police force and many believed that his arrest was an attempt to prevent his book from being published. During his arrest, the book was not even in the publishing house, but in only in his computer. After the arrest, many people shared the manuscript via Internet and read it to protest prosecutor's wrong doing. The book later published with a title of “The Imam's Army.”

14 Cagatay, “Turkey under the AKP-II: The rise of authoritarian democracy and orthopraxy,” (Hurriyet Daily News, Op-Ed, 2010). Accessed May, 14, 2013. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=turkey8217s-transformation-under-akp-ii-rise-of-authoritarian-democracy-and-orthopraxy-2010-04-11.

15 Öğret, “Turkey Peace Talks Positive; Press Freedom Still in Peril,” (Committee to Protect Journalists Blog, news story, 2013). Accessed on April 22, 2013. http://www.cpj.org/blog/2013/04/turkey-peace-talks-positive-but-press-freedom-stil.php.

16 In March 2013, National Daily Milliyet published some parts of the peace talks transcripts which took place in prison between Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) representatives. The content of the news article was accurate, and the subject of this report was approved by the participant actors. Milliyet and reporter Namik Durukan gave Turkish public the opportunity to use their right to be informed about ongoing peace process. But, Prime Minister Erdoğan's reaction toward this coverage was harsh. Referring to “national sensitivities,” Erdoğan blamed Millliyet's editors of undermining the peace process and called for immediate state secrets law. AKP is still working on the new legislation about this official secret law. Hasan Cemal, one of the prominent columnists of Milliyet who is working and writing on the Kurdish issue since the 1980s, was fired right after writing an article criticizing Erdoğan's attempts to censor the press.

17 World and European Values Surveys in many countries around the world which investigates change in societies over time began as a project in 1981. Turkey joined the project in 1990. In 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 same research has been conducted. In 2007, in 41 provinces of Turkey, 1579 people interviewed face-to-face and “Turkey Values Survey” accomplished. In addition to that, a parallel “Elites Survey” was conducted. In this context, 226 media personnel were interviewed face-to-face. Bahçeşehir University Professor Dr Yilmaz Esmer was the coordinator of this study and he announced the “Media and Values” survey results during a meeting at Bahçeşehir University. Furthermore, “Religion and Democracy” part of this research was published in an edited book entitled “The International Systems, Democracy and Values” (co-edited-Thorlief Petterson). For Yılmaz Esmer's unpublished media and values survey see http://mytayf.typepad.com/mytayf/files/betamsunum7.2.08.pdf (accessed May 20, 2013).

Additional information

Notes on Contributor

Esra Arsan received her PhD from the Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Journalism at Marmara University, Turkey. She has worked as a lecturer in journalism at Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey, between 1998 and 2012. Currently, as a member of Institute of Social Sciences, she is working for the Cultural Studies program at the same university. Her research interests are political communication and the practice of political journalism in Turkey. She is currently working on the cultural narratives of war and peace in Turkish news media.