Prior to this weekend's International Independent Media Forum in Istanbul, we asked local journalists from reporters to editors, what their feelings were and what kind of a media they aspired for.
Uri: National media wants to digest the local media
Adana's "Ilk Haber" newspaper reporter Sureyya Uri said journalists working in the local media lack rights.
In his view, local journalists are not economically pleased and once a newspaper owner lays off a reporter, there is often no where else he or she can go. "Journalists are not working in a free environment" Uri explained. "Because they are economically weak, the local media is not independent enough".
According to Uri, another problem the local media faces is that communication students lack sufficient interest in this sector. Uri believes that a solution to this can be found by the media writing down its own code. In his words, the local media is also challenged by a stronger national media that wants to digest it.
Mass media, he says, prevents the local media from strengthening. "Because of this, the local media should organize".
Gures: Official adds are binding
"Gaziantep Haber" newspaper news editor Murat Gures, said on the issue, "when we look at it from Anatolia, we come to believe that the mass media is giving momentum to the degeneration of the society".
Pointing out that the local media did not have a place in the mass media, Gures suggested that almost every development worth reporting was decided on by the latter. "Before it snows in Istanbul" he said, "the winter does not set in on Anatolia".
Gures believes a mentality accepting civic journalism needs to be created in Turkey and that the understanding of alternative journalism needs to be strengthened in the local media.
According to Gures, one of the problems of the local media is its dependence on official advertisements which, he says, creates a binding to the official view. He stresses that many newspapers at local level in Turkey are totally dependent on official advertising incomes and that this leads to a profit in the range of trillions.
Gures also says the local media has a problem of having limited access to latest technology, a lack of social security and a vacuum of qualified personnel. The newsman believes that the state needs to consult with professional journalism organizations to address these issues.
Efe: Local media affects people directly
Samsun's "Medya FM" radio broadcast editor Makbule Efe stresses the importance of the role of the local media to report straight from the source of the news and in the fastest possible way to the people.
Efe says their goal is based on the understanding that "another media is possible without any hindrance from profit relations" and expresses confidence in the importance of the local media.
Despite problems in the technical, human resources and financial fields, she says, the local media has a vital role in the shaping of democratic life. In her words, the most important problem they face is "the local media's desire to imitate the mass media".
She particularly underlines the exploitation of women and children in the mass media, saying a change is indeed possible but that the system in whole has to change.
Uncu: Local field full of profit-based newspapers
Manisa Yarin newspaper editor Buse Eylem Uncu, stressed the importance of trained journalists working in the local media.
Uncu noted that in local journalism there were several newspapers published by owners who wanted to profit from official advertisements and that this led to publications without serious content.
Asked what type of a media she would like to see, she said "one that is cleansed of newspapers without content, that does not exploit internet news reporting, that researches and asked, that has been freed of the pressures exerted by local administrators".
Cig: A media without the mafia or politics
Ozgur Kocaeli newspaper editor-in-chief Ismet Cig says their true aspiration is a media "which does not have the involvement of the mafia or politics".
Arguing that journalists had to have more say on local newspapers than their national counterparts, Cig said this was required because of the collaboration of people who had nothing to do with journalism, with local power centers.
Cig believes that a rectification has gained momentum in the European Union accession period and has confidence that the change in the structure of the society will reflect on the media.
Ozbey: Local media faces more difficulties in smaller provinces
Mus Haber 49 Editor-in-Chief Emrullah Ozbey says that the local media is more repressed in smaller provinces than it is in larger ones and blames the mass media for remaining passive.
He says that despite this, the local media's performance in gathering and reporting on news is far more better than the mass media and believes that an alternative media can be created by taking the media out of the monopoly of the predominant political view. (AO/EO/II/YE)
