Local Reporters Discuss Flag Crisis
Media employees representing more than 20 local newspapers, radio stations and television channels in Mersin, Antalya, Hatay and Karaman attended the seminar. The local training seminar has been conducted in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Tarbzon, Bolu, Izmir and Bursa before.
During the seminar on Rights Reporting, the local media employees discussed the crisis that resulted from two children's attempt to burn the Turkish flag. They also talked about concerns over the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
Famiha Aslan from Mersin Radyo Ses (Radio Voice) said Mersin's local media played a role in turning the incident into a crisis.
Recep Yildirim from Mersin Metropol Radyo said, contrary to some media reports, the city wasn't tense after the attempt to burn the flag
"At the beginning, Turkey was focused on Mersin. Now people of Mersin are watching what's going on in Turkey. Apart from those, who hope to somehow benefit from the crisis, everyone is minding his/her own business.''
The journalists agreed that the local media, just like the national media, took sides in the incident and forgot to ask the right questions.
The seminar was made up of presentations on "Dilemmas of the Media and the Quest for New Methods of Reporting," "New Regulations on the Rights of Women, Children and Minorities on the Path to the European Union," "The News Value of Rights Struggles," and "Local Media Speaks of Reporting." The journalists also participated, as three separate groups, in a workshop on "examples of reporting based on rights."
Doctor Ciler Dursun from the Communications School at Ankara University, Professor Doctor Levent Koker from the Law Faculty of Atilim University, Associate-Professor Gulgun Tosun from the Communications School of Aegean University, Oguz Haksever from NTV television, Murat Celikkan from Radikal newspaper, and Serif Erol, the former broadcast coordinator of Acik Radyo (Open Radio) gave presentations during the seminar.
"Political power has control over the visibility of the opposition"
At the onset of the seminar, Project Advisor Nadire Mater talked about the project's aims and BIA's activities.
Dr. Dursun from the Communications School of Ankara University spoke during the session on "Dilemmas of the Media and the Quest for New Methods of Reporting." Dursun said that the mainstream media is avoiding conflict with those in power. Under such circumstances, the visibility of the opposition is under the control of the government and others in power, according to Dursun.
Dursun, through examples, explained how the language of news normalizes victimization. He also explained that the social situation, sexuality and class of the subject of news determines the language of news.
He added that the news language has encircled the languages of everyone. Even the children, when a microphone is turned to them, start talking in news language, said Dursun.
"Journalists should scrutinize news"
On the first day of the seminar, participants talked about "examples of reporting based on rights," in three separate workshops for radio, television, and newspaper reporting.
During the radio workshop, led by Serif Erol, the former broadcast coordinator of Istanbul Acik Radyo, participants discussed the importance of news for radio, the flag-burning attempt in Mersin and how journalists should have handled the events that followed.
Erol underlined the impossibility of not taking a side but said the journalists should scrutinize events and be objective.
Erol said rights reporting requires a journalist to be on the side of those who can't get their voices heard. "You would have more prestige if those who you don't represent, can't remain indifferent to you," said Erol.
"The value of image is increasing every day"During the television workshop led by Oguz Haksever from NTV television, participants spoke about basic TV reporting approaches that would enhance the quality of rights reporting.
Haksever, through examples, spoke about the "don't tell but show" principle of television reporting. He argued that because of limited time and increased competition, television reporting is becoming simpler and simpler. So the importance of images is increasing, said Haksever.
"Journalists don't have to be patriotic"
Writer Murat Celikkan of Radikal newspaper and the participants spoke about the right to live, regulations that would impact reporters' approach to rights, patronage relations, taboos and self-censorship during the newspaper workshop.
Celikkan said the media, which has the responsibility to oversee human rights, is actually violating human rights. He criticized reporters for refraining from asking the right questions and for taking sides during the "flag crisis."
"Reporters don't have to be patriots."
Celikkan gave some positive and negative examples of rights reporting and pointed to some rights violations committed by the media through the incorrect usage of the "suspect-defendant-convict" notions.
"Taboos need to be addressed"
On the second day of the seminar, Prof. Dr. Koker from the Atilim University talked about new regulations on the rights of women, children and minorities and the new Turkish Penal Code.
"The laws can't be implemented if the media doesn't follow how the violations arise,'' said Koker. The people wouldn't be able to find out about the malfunctions of the TCK if it went into effect without the contradictions being overcome.
Koker gave information about the three basic rights categories, which are negative (rights related to one's existence, such as the right to live), positive (the right to demand the necessary tools to be able to make use of our rights), and active status rights (the right of political participation).
Koker said that although there are improvements in the TCK, there also are limitations on the freedom of expression. He said taboos need to be addressed for a perspective of equal rights to be shaped.
"Media loses no time in restoring police's undermined esteem"
Deputy Associate Professor Dr. Gulgun Tosun from the Aegean University, during her presentation on the "News Value of Rights Struggles," talked about the short history of human rights organizations in Turkey and criticized the media's indifference toward human rights struggles.
Defining media as the 4th power would inevitable relate it to those ruling the country, said Tosun. She said it would be much better to think of the media as part of the public place within "negotiating democracy."
Rights reporting is the litmus paper of the media, said Tosun. "The political power fills in that space as long as we keep silent," she added.
Presenting human rights news as isolating events instead of presenting them within the rights framework is a problematic approach, according to Tosun. She talked about how the media handled the police beating of women on March
6.
She pointed out that shortly after reporting that incident, which hurt the police's image, the media went on to publish or broadcast positive news about the police. "Media, by behaving like this, is restoring the police's undermined esteem," said Tosun.
During the evaluation meeting held at the end of the seminar, Project Advisor Nadire Mater talked about which criteria bianet is prepared according to and the things that are taken into considerations when preparing news.
Mater said the following about the concerns the media has on the new TCK:
"Reporters, by remaining silent, let the laws to be prepared this way. But it's unacceptable for us to say 'we are not going to be able to report.' What we need to do as reporters, is to spend effort so that the problematic articles are annuled and to continue to report in the best possible way that we know." (KO/EU/EA/YE)
Attendants of the seminar
Antalya: Avni Gelendost "Akdeniz Haber Gazetesi" (Akdeniz Newspaper), Mehmet Yilmaz "Manavgat'in Sesi Gazetesi" (Manavgat's Voice Newspaper,) Dogan Sonmez (Venus Radio)
Hatay: Sevki Gunes (Atayurt Newspaper), Sahiye Say (Samandag Newspaper), Zafer Sari "Ekspres" (Express)
Iskenderun: Ersen Korkmaz "Demokrat Gazetesi" (Democrat Newspaper)
Karaman: Arif Kerem Yavuzaslan "Karamanin Sesi gazetesi" (Karaman's Voice Newspaper), Ali Unluer (Head of the Anatolia Media Union), Ali Unluer (KGRTV)
Mersin: Seyrani Solugan "Sokak Dergisi" (Street Magazine), Abidin Yagmur (IMECE Newspaper), Selahaddin Veysanoglu "Radyo Akdeniz" (Radio Mediterranean), Recep Yildirim (Radio Metropol), M.Can Toprak "Radyo Ses" (Radio Voice), Famiha Aslan (Radyo Ses), Beycan Uckardesler (San Radio-TV), Munevver Ozgenc (KADER), Nesrin Temur (Independent Women's Association), Elif Zulfukaroglu "Ucan Supurge" (The Flying Broom), Racit Dogan (Radio Metropol), Nurhan Oztan (KADER), Vildan Soydemir (KADER), Sevda Veysanoglu (Radyo Akdeniz), Gamze Acikgoz (Radyo Akdeniz), Mihriban Amenoglu (Imece Newspaper/Birgun Newspaper)