I should tell you that my relations with the media didn't go beyond reading newspapers until I found out the result of my university entrance examination.
You didn't qualify for law, how about BYYO?
I had never considered becoming a journalist. I wanted to become a lawyer, but I was one of those students who found themselves at the BYYO, although they wanted to study something else.
In 1991, during my sophomore year, I was an intern at the daily Milliyet newspaper, which had the phrase, "people's newspaper" printed below its logo.
I was exhilarated to join my senior journalist brothers and sisters. I wasn't being paid but that was okay. I was telling myself that I had to do this as a media student. I believed that people would be more qualified in the field they studied. (Is that so?)
Journalist by day, porter by night
This consolation helped me get over the psychological difficulties of not being paid, but solving my financial problems was much harder and tiring.
To earn my living, I would either pack shirts and t-shirts at textiles factories until sunrise, or work as a porter.
With the help of two of my colleagues, I was able to deal with news stories and photographs on my own within a couple of months.
You may be fired even if you are unpaid
I was very depressed when I got fired from Milliyet newspaper after 11 months of free service to them. And they also made me sign a document saying Milliyet didn't owe me any money.
I was now an "intern" journalist, who could one way or another write news stories and take photographs. I had been detained a couple of times while doing my internship and had experienced truncheons and kicks of police officers.
Moreover, I just couldn't imagine why I had been fired although I wasn't being paid. I found out later that my offense was unforgivable. I had been "crossing legs and smoking" around my chief.
Was there a more "honorable" job?
"You still have time. At least you can find yourself a good and honorable job," advised one of my colleagues at Milliyet as we said goodbye to each other. I couldn't understand why on earth he would say that. I also got angry at him for that advice.
I was determined to become a journalist and I would never in the future advise an intern to "go get a better and more honorable job." How could there be a better and more honorable job than journalism? Moreover, if I hadn't become a journalist, I wouldn't have found out:
* About people's freedom to get saucepans and pans, not information; about covering demonstrations by laborers demanding unionist rights as a journalist who didn't have a trade union to belong to;
* About waiting for my turn quite like the priest in Brecht's striking poem as one of my colleagues periodically got fired;
* That "Ethical" and "honorable" and "honest" journalism is an agitative utopia; that with the endless internships and minimal pay increases, we could only work with an outcast status although it said "journalist" on our business cards;
* That some people "had to" get paid tens of thousands of U.S. dollars when we worked 60 hours and six days a week without getting what we deserved;
* That it is only on paper that journalists are bound by law no: 212;
* That in our country, the state hands a certificate to sex workers, and a yellow card to journalists although it doesn't pay their wages;
* That there are police reporters who join police officers in torture sessions, entertainment reporters who write articles for money, economy reporters who make up speculations in the stock market, sports reporters who act like a press spokesman of the soccer club they cover, columnists who follow up the business contracts of their bosses...;
* That some writers are fired because their opinions published in their columns disturb certain people, that none of the other journalists or journalistic organizations stand by those writers, and that some columnists use their columns only to get rich;
* That those in uniforms may decide who is to work in which newspaper;
* That a "courageous" businessmen notorious for dirty businesses can swiftly enter the media sector and then quit it with the same speed; and that the managers of the newspaper he bought could applause him as well as their former boss when he returns;
* That not only the outcast, but managers and writers could also be fired one day;
* That these managers and writers, who always remain silent as the outcast is being fired, can go crazy when they are treated the same;
* That a senior official at a newspaper can say, "That newspaper belongs to the PKK. The reporter has got to be like that too anyway," when he hears that reporter Metin Goktepe of the Evrensel newspaper was beaten up to death by the police;
* And that a war, which would cost the lives of many, could be promoted just for a couple of bucks.
Far from ethical...
It is possible to add lots more to this list. In short, the media sector is quite like the sound of drums - nice, but only from far away.
One doesn't need to be too close either to realize that the rhythm is wrong and noise, not music is coming out of it. This is why newspaper sales remain at 3.4-4 million for years now.
And we are the main reason that the media sector is far from being ethical and editorially independent and lacks the identity of being on the people's side.
Us, the unorganized journalists, who remain at the lowest level of the pyramid, believe that we are doing journalism, while what we are indeed doing is just acting like journalists.
Only remembered during times of unemployment
So, what are these unorganized journalists doing? I bet journalism is the one and only job in this country, which has such a high proportion of educated employees but the least number of organizations to protect the rights of those employees.
Graduating from a university doesn't increase the quality of training or a person, of course. But if these people are journalists, people have the right to expect certain things of them.
Journalists are aware of their problems but they don't raise their voices, they don't act together to create solutions for their problems. They prefer gatherings during which they can just gossip.
But whenever there's and increase in unemployment in the sector, the journalists then remember the professional unions.
The Initiative of Journalists Council, and the Contemporary Journalists' Association were always remembered during those times.
But nobody remembers the 50-year-old union, or think about going and registering to become a member. Because, excuse my language, but it's easier to just say shit about it. (AS/BA/EA/YE)
