Independent Media Debates Funds & Pressure

Speaking at the panel moderated by IPS Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Roberto Savio, BİA2 Project Coordinator Ertugrul Kurkcu said "the duty that falls upon all of us is to open the field of public publishing and be in a political search to create the opportunities for another communication".

"Birgun" newspaper's Sengul Kilic said that not having bosses in the sense of newspaper ownership did not necessarily mean independence and that as a newspaper with thousands of partners Birgun itself was not subject to direct intervention from anyone, but that they could fall under the influence of trade groups that had advertising relationships in this context.

Monthly "Express" magazines Yucel Gokturk told the panel that independent news reporting meant, in effect, being independent from any form of capital group, political party, civil society organization and other models of publishing.

Noting in the forum that were both an opposition and an alternative media organization, "Ozgur Radio" representative Songul Ozbakir told the audience experiences the radio station and opposition media faced, giving as example the arrest of their broadcast editor Fusun Erdogan.

Kurkcu: Lets wear our public funds

BİA2 Project Coordinator Ertugrul Kurkcu said that while creating the BİA project in 1996 the internet was only being used to send messages while it had now transformed to a platform where news was being produced.

Stating that the participation of over 50 local media representatives in the forum reflected the solidarity that had been created under the framework of the BIA project, Kurkcu said that while in the past the organization's web site received only 500 visitors a day, this figure had soared to 30,000 recently and that the work of many journalists, researchers and academics in various parts of the world were presented on the bianet.org site.

Explaining that the existence of an independent media was becoming more difficult in the lack of public funds, Kurkcu said this was one of the primary issues that needed serious consideration.

Kilic: Are we really free?

Birgun's Sengul Kilic pointed out that the media came face to face with professional trade organizations and that when covering certain issues, faced the advertising wall.

"When this happens," she said, "I feel that there is no longer a difference between a newspaper whose owner is involved in other businesses and my newspaper". Kilic said that under these conditions journalists had to discuss whether or not they are free, how the unions can be transformed and strengthened.

Gokturk: Full independence

Monthly "Express" newspaper representative Yucel Gokturk told the panel that when the concept of independent media was raised, it brought to mind a complicated concept.

He said he believed an independent media meant being independent from all kinds of capital investment groups, political parties, civil society organizations and other publication models, where independent news reporting is being engaged only to freedom.

Noting that the Express magazine went into print life in 1993, Gokturk said that parallel to this his group also published the "Roll" magazine.

Ozbaris: We are not working for ratings

Ozgur Radio's Songul Ozbaris said that as a necessity of their alternative broadcasting, they supported a more equal society but that the cost of this to the radio station had been its being banned from broadcasting for 3 years 10 months in an 11-year period.

Noting that obstacles in front of development were both political and economic, Ozbaris said the monopolist media was in an effort to increase its rating with photographs of dead children in floods in the Southeast while they themselves were raising the question on why military helicopters flying throughout the region were not being used in rescue operations to save lives. (EO/II/YE)