Izmir Discusses Rights Reporting
The seminar at the Izmir Kaya Prestige Hotel, was made up of workshopson "examples of rights reporting," presentations and sessions ofdiscussions about the local media. The following presentations were made at the seminar:
* Dilemmas of the Media, the Quest for New Ways of Reporting and Principles of Responsible Reporting
* New Regulations on Women, Children and Minority Rights in the path toward European Union
* News Value of Rights Struggles
The attendants also participated in the workshop on "examples ofreporting on rights," in three separate groups. The workshops on "Politically and Ethically Responsible Reporting" were organized as follows:
* Radio (Serif Erol)
* TV (Oguz Haksever)
* Print Media (Murat Celikkan)
Local media is the key to a democratic media
On the first day of the seminar, BIA's Training Advisor Sevda Alankus, from the Communications School of Eastern Mediterranean University, delivered the keynote speech. Alankus underlined the importance of a strong local media for the democratization of the media. She also talked about the academic world's approach to the local media and BIA's contributions. "The academic world's sensitivity toward local media has improved thanks to BIA," said Alankus.
Alankus also touched on the media's general attitude toward rights reporting. She drew attention to the fact that pluralism isn't news in general media and that classical reporting has itself become a rights violation.
Media, from craft to industry
Ragip Duran from the Communications School of Galatasaray University spoke about the transformation of media during the rise of neo-liberalism and the preservation of basic values. He said readers don't take newspapersas reference anymore because newspapers have lost touch with reality. According to Duran, the rise of the new right wing in the 80stransformed reporting, which was a craft, into an industry. "The image has becomemore important than the content," said Duran, adding that reporting hasbecome more related to power rather than to people and public interest.
Duran said media employees, who jumped to a higher class in the process, are now dependant on those with power because they are scared of losing their status. This dependance is reflected in their journalism, Duran said. "Journalism may serve the people only if it's done well," he said adding that questioning those in power is a must.
"This is the way of life" stories
Ciler Dursun from the Communications School of Ankara University spoke about the ideological patterns and codes of news and reporting. Dursun also analyzed reporting examples taken from the general media.
Both local and national media are being forced to do the kind of reporting, which doesn't cause problems with those in power. Such cases, in which the reporter has no initiative, lead to "squeezed, weak news stories," said Dursun. As a result of this relationship between mediaand those in power, the visibility of the opposition is also controlled by those in power, said Dursun.
Dursun also drew attention to how various news stories are filled with ideological codes. She spoke of:
* how the language of news stories normalize the incident or victimization,
* how the social status, gender and class of the subjects of the story also determine the language of the story,
* and how the news stories give the message, "this is how society andlife goes."
Dursun said reporting in general focuses on a segment, instead of the permanency or flow of the incident, and thus seek to form a certaintyand consistency within the flow. She drew attention to the lack of "follow-up" stories that would demonstrate the course.
Taking the side of those whose voices aren't heard
The participants also attended radio, television and print media workshops. During the radio workshop, directed by Serif Erol, the former broadcast coordinator of Istanbul Acik Radio, participants spoke aboutthe radio's distinctive characteristics and the news stories' importance in radio broadcasts. Erol said news bring prestige to every radio stationand explained the notions of "partiality and objectivity." It's impossiblenot to take sides, said Erol, while drawing attention to the importance of objectivity.
Erol said rights reporting requires being on the side of those who can't get their voices heard. "You would gain prestige when those who youdon't represent can't remain indifferent toward you," said Erol.
To be understandable and permanent
During the television workshop directed by Oguz Haksever from NTV, reporters spoke about TV reporting that would increase the quality of rights reporting.
"The intelligibility and permanence of the news story," was the main subject of the television workshop. Haksever spoke about different approaches to news stories and the "show, don't tell" principle in television. He also touched on determining the "focus" of a news story, and building the story around that focus.
Haksever also talked about the importance of simplicity, concreteness, positive sentences, active words and the usage of key words.
Who determines the limits of the freedom of expression?
The print media workshop directed by Radikal writer Murat Celikkan, focused on how rights awareness determines the language of news. Theright to live, prejudices which influence the reporters' approach, and freedom of expression were among the hottest issues debated during the workshop.
Celikkan spoke about how the approach toward rights may easily change according to the subject. Through interactive exercises, he demonstrated that especially the approach toward gender and minority rights can bevery inconsistent. The debate which was triggered by Celikkan's questions: "What are the limits of freedom of expression? Who determines those limits?" was striking because it demonstrated the importance of knowing the definition of rights and using those definitions as criteria in reporting about rights.
During the evaluation session after the workshops, trainers pointed tothe importance of putting the right to live to the center of reporting.
The changes in definitions of rights and comprehension of rights
On the second day of the program, Professor Doctor Levent Koker from the Atilim University, spoke about the new regulations on women, childrenand minority rights in the path toward the European Union. Koker spoke about the negative (existence rights, such as the right to live), positive(the right to demand necessary means to benefit from our rights), and active status rights (like the right of political participation), which are the main categories of rights. Participants then moved on to a debate onnews on rights violations and censorship.
4th power is a definition linked to those in power
Gulgun Tosun from Ege University proposed an important change of apprehension. "Defining media as the 4th power, inevitably links it to those in power," said Tosun. She proposed the notion of "media, as partof the public space," and in an environment of "negotiator democracy."
Tosun said rights reporting is the litmus paper of media. "If we don't debate, the political power fills the empty space," she said.
Tosun spoke about two more problems in media's approach to rights:
* the issues aren't covered as rights issues, and so are viewed as individual incidents
* editors aren't knowledgeable enough on human rights.
Tosun also summarized the obstacles in front of rights reporting:
* monopolization in the media
* the pace of news production, leads to a shrinkage in stories about rights
* the tendency to make stories entertaining has led to "infotainment" products
Challenges of local media
At the end of the two-day training, representatives from local media talked about and discussed the problems they face during news coverage. The following issues stood out:
* relations with officials
* the self-censorship reporters apply because they are intimidated by those in power
* the lack of qualified editors, the problem of human resources
* hesitation in producing stories that aren't local.
(TK)
Participants:
Aydin: Muharrem Baskar "Huraydin", Mustafa Kemal Ozgursoy "Gazete 2000" (Newspaper 2000), Hasan Eker "Didim Gundem" (Didim Agenda), Ayfer Eker "Didim Manset" (Didim Headline)
Burdur: Serkan Simsek "Burdur Radio TV", Melike Kokmaz Elibol "Channel15"
Isparta: Dilek Ates "Akdeniz Gazetesi" (Mediterranean Newspaper), Hatice Ozdemir "Demokrat Gazetesi" (Democrat Newspaper), Ertugrul Engin "Gulses Newspaper," Huseyin Ozdemir "Hakimiyet" (Dominance), Mehmet Cinar"Mercek" (Lens), Selcuk Tokgoz "Gulkent Newspaper," Sakir Huseyin Aksoz "Cozum" (Solution), Ridvan Tokmak "Olusum" (Formation), Kubra Ozkale "Manset," Hakan Oran "Haber Isparta" (News Isparta), Hasan Kuzgun (K32 TV)
Izmir: Sahap Avci "Aliaga Express," Tugba Tercan Kadilar "DemokratRadyo" (Democrat Radio), Ibrahim Kaya "Demokrat Radyo", Sami Kadilar "Demokrat Radyo", Alcay Karatepe "Demokrat Radyo", Nejla Tufekcioglu "Dikili FM", Levent Aydin "Melodi FM", Ali Rizai Kafali "Can Radio", Aynur Bayirlar "Izmir KADER", Hamza Dag "Mazlum-Der", Fulya Varhan "Karsiyaka Communications School," Sevinc Tuncel "DIHA", Emine Celebi "DIHA",Ismail Inci "DIHA", Mustafa Aydin "DIHA", Mecit Sefiloglu "CGD Aegean head," Melek Atabey "Communications School at Ege University," Basar Yigit "Communications School at Ege University," Umut Sum "CommunicationsSchool at Ege University," Duygu Yag "Demokrat Radyo", Cennet Kavacik "Communications School at Marmara University," Sukru Aran, Onder Sincar "Communications School at Ege University," Fatma Dogan "Joint Life Cooperative," Mehmet Kamik "Joint Life Cooperative," Hakan Caliskan (Ortak Cigli)
Manisa: Murat Aydin (Soma FM)
Mugla: Mehmet Bozkir "Guney Ege Gazetesi" (South Aegean Newspaper),Coskun Efendioglu (Milas Onder), Celal Durgun "Radyo Gozlem" (RadioObservation)
Usak: A.Bilge Ozkutlu "Usak Asrin Gazetesi" (Usak Century Newspaper), Abdurahman Yavuz "Usak Olay Gazetesi" (Usak Event Newspaper)