Turkey Scores 31 out of 100 in Media Freedom

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The Freedom House, a US-based watchdog organization for democracy, has released its 2019 report on media freedom.

The report titled, "Freedom and the Media 2019: A Downward Spiral," underpinned that the freedom of the media has been deteriorating around the world over the past decade.

The internet can be an alternative to the conventional media in countries facing drastic declines in press freedom, the report said. It said that while 150 news outlets have been closed in Turkey since the 2016 coup attempt, alternative media outlets such as Medyascope, Dokuz8 Ahval broadcast independent news.

Along with the press freedom, trust in the media has also declined drastically in Turkey, with only 25 percent of the people trust in the media, the report noted.

The report also concluded that major international technology platforms serve as a buffer zone against governments' censorial tendencies, with strong encryption technologies preventing the governments from barring access to specific content within a tech platform and the tech companies deliberately refraining from setting up operations in more repressive countries.

Turkey's scores in the report

Freedom score: 31 (Lowest score 0, highest 100)

Freedom rating: 5.5/7 (Lowest score 7)

Political rights: 5/7

Civil rights: 6/7

(HA/VK)