No Self-Criticism in Media on Iraq War

At the World Tribunal on Iraq, which assembled in Istanbul last week, the international media organizations, especially U.S. and British media organizations, were accused of broadcasting the lie that there are mass destruction weapons in Iraq, without questioning its truthfulness.

Dogan Tilic, the head of the Contemporary Journalists' Association (CGD) and media critic Ragip Duran argued that the mainstream media in Turkey played a role in preparations for the attack on Iraq.

CGD head Tilic said an important portion of the mainstream media in Turkey were more eager than the U.S. media in spending effort to "prepare the public opinion for war."

"The dominant media in Turkey ignored the global anti-war developments, realistic and logical information about the weapons of mass destruction, and became a Turkish journal of advertisement and public relations for the White House," said journalist Duran.

Zafer Atay, the foreign policy writer of "Dunya" (World) newspaper, said a war was waged on a country based on lies. He added that the "Turkish media is not qualified enough and jumps on every news."

The journalists agreed that the Turkish media took upon a responsibility, one way or another, before and during the occupation of Iraq. They talked to bianet about the role the media played, and the reasons:

Tilic: "The interests of the media bosses were effective"

CGD head Tilic reminded that the Turkish media suggested that the mass destruction weapons, which Iraq was accused of possessing, could be used to attack Turkey. The media broadcast and published an elaborate presentation by the State Secretary of the time, Colin Powell, on Iraq's missiles. He added that the majority of Turkish columnists used all kinds of misleading arguments to get Turkey to act together with the U.S. in the Iraq war.

"They suggested that our economy would be destroyed if Turkey doesn't get involved in the war and shamelessly made fun of those who advocated peace," said Tilic.

He said there were some televisions and writers that acted responsibly. "But if we were to make a comparison, those who advocated the war have more responsibility," said Tilic.

Tilic said that the media's coverage cannot be independent from its economy and politics and added that the owners of the media determine its coverage. "The media bosses' relations with the government and their general economic interests were determinative on the coverage at the time," he said.

Duran : "We didn't see a self-criticism in dominant media"

Ragip Duran argued that the dominant Turkish media covered the U.S. attack on and invasion of Iraq from the American perspective despite the fact that it had experience and facilities to cover it from a local and independent perspective. He reminded that during the 1991 Gulf War the dominant media, including the state-owned Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), broadcast images and news by CNN International.

Duran said the media ignored anti-war developments in the world and in Turkey and disregarded realistic and logical information on issues such as the weapons of mass destruction, Saddam-September 11 and Saddam-al Qaeda connections.

According to journalist Duran, another serious problem is that the media didn't fell the need of "confession and self-criticism" after the war.

"Just within the year 2004, BBC, CNN International and New York Times had to confess they were pressured by the Washington and London regimes to distort or hide news," said Duran. "However, the Turkish media neither did any self-criticism, nor did it pay attention to such global criticisms."

"The media may try to make a war seem fair and legitimate. But the media is not more powerful than reality. It can't be," added Duran.

Atay: "The media jumped on every news without any confirmation."

According to Zafer Atay from the Dunya newspaper, the main problem was the fact that the Turkish media didn't have the facilities to independently confirm news in Washington or Baghdad.

Atay, who has been directing foreign news services in a number of media organizations for many years, said:

"The main news source of the media, especially for foreign news, is the western news agencies. They should act responsibly and not jump on every news. For example, you shouldn't be immediately publishing a news story from Fox TV, which is very close to Bush. You have to filter the news."

Atay, who agrees Saddam Hussein was very dangerous for the people of Iraq and for the region, added that the United Nations inspectors couldn't find any weapons of mass destruction during inspections conducted in the last 7-8 years. He said this fact should have been taken into consideration.

"We may not have the facilities to reach Washington. But we need to act responsibly and filter the information," Atay said.

"Opposing the war doesn't mean supporting the Saddam administration," said Atay, adding that the U.S. media has begun to accept that the war on Iraq was waged based on lies and that all facts were actually lies. "They have begun to apologize from the people," he said. (EO/EU/EA/YE)