1 Aug 2013 | In the News
#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)
BAHRAIN
Prominent Bahrain blogger arrested: Activist
The massive street demonstrations that roiled Brazil last month have eased but more radical groups are coming to the fore and resorting to violence.
(Strat Risks)
BRAZIL
Brazil’s social unrest easing but turning more radical
A rights activist in Bahrain says authorities have arrested a prominent blogger just days after warning of harsher measures against anti-government protesters in the violence-wracked Gulf kingdom.
(Ahram Online)
CHINA
Singer’s Arrest in China Fires Free Speech Debate
Hours after a man with long-running grievances against officialdom set off a homemade explosive at Beijing’s airport, a singer-songwriter turned to the Internet to release her own sarcastic wish list of to-be-bombed targets.
(ABC News)
China dismisses allegations over obstruction of Google’s Gmail service
Chinese authorities say Google’s claims that they are to blame for technical problems with the Gmail are ‘unacceptable’
(The Guardian)
GERMANY
How Hollywood bowed to the wishes of Hitler
A Harvard film scholar has revealed in terrifying detail how Hollywood was at the whim of the Nazis throughout the 1930s – censoring films and dropping others in a sinister collaboration with Hitler.
(The Daily Mail)
GLOBAL
The Picket Fenced Internet: Why Free Communication Is Over…If It Ever Existed?
The most harrowing realization of Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks is that the World Wide Web is no longer free.
(Huffington Post)
PAKISTAN
‘The biggest form of blasphemy we commit is to force another to live in fear’
YouTube has been blocked in Pakistan since September 2012 for hosting the “blasphemous” Innocence of Muslims film. But now the country’s parliament has been asked to define what actually constitutes blasphemy. Here are some suggestions to get them going
(Index on Censorship)
RUSSIA
Videotaped Bullying Of Gay Russian Youths Highlights Growing Homophobia
Some show youths being forced to drink urine, or having it poured over their heads. Others show young men being taunted with phallic sex toys, threatened with axes, and forced to carry wooden crucifixes.
(Radio Free Europe)
Russia’s anti-internet piracy law faces backlash
It’s championed by some as a new weapon to defend content-makers, decried by others as a blunt tool that could extend censorship of the net.
(BBC)
SOUTH AFRICA
SA’s outdated censorship legislation
Cracks cobwebbing across the broken screen of his tablet PC seem a metaphor for the stormy greeting given film maker Jahmil XT Qubeka’s third feature, Of Good Report.
(Financial Mail)
UNITED KINGDOM
Free speech is a bitter Twitter privilege
For too long the trolls have hidden behind cowardly anonymity in a virtual world they believe to be free of consequence
(The Daily Mirror)
Cameron Looks to China to Supply Europe’s First Internet Censorship Wall in Britain
So David Cameron’s government has finally laid his cards on the table. Getting the press and the public to comply with the draconian Leveson Star Chamber’s clampdown on freedom of expression and information was a hard sell, to say the least.
(21st Century Wire)
Ex-Tory treasurer Peter Cruddas wins £180,000 libel award
Billionaire businessman also awarded interim costs of £500,000 against The Sunday Times
(The Independent)
Twitter Abuse Isn’t a Censorship or Freedom of Speech Issue, It’s a Human Issue
Imagine you’re queuing up for a coffee. You order, and pull out a £10 note with which to pay. “Wouldn’t it be great to have a woman on a banknote?” you might remark as you hand it to the barista. “F*ck you, you f***ing sl*t,” he snarls back. “I’m going to wait for you outside later and rape you.” What do you do? Cry? Run away? Look around for help? Let’s say you look around for help. You turn to the woman standing next to you.
(Huffington Post)
UNITED STATES
Keller lawsuit vs. gamer EA Sports, NCAA clears major hurdle
Free speech – at least in the world of video games – took a hit Wednesday in the ongoing battle regarding player likenesses.
(CBS Sports)
No, the IRS Did Not Target Progressives Like It Targeted Conservatives
NPR’s politics blog has published a chart — compiled from a House Ways and Means staff analysis — of the different levels of IRS targeting between conservative and progressive groups. Bottom line? Far more conservative groups faced IRS scrutiny, they faced more questions, and were approved at a much lower rate than progressives. The chart is based on the IRS’s now-discredited “BOLO” (be on the lookout) lists.
(American Center for Law and Justice)
Does chief have right to post profane gun videos?
Police Chief Mark Kessler of Gilberton, Schuylkill County, has come under fire after posting profanity-laced videos on YouTube. Some have argued it’s a free-speech issue. Others have said it’s outrageous behavior for a police chief who is also a school board member. Reporter Nicole Radzievich” talks with two people with opposing viewpoints.
(The Morning Call)
Your free speech right comes with a hefty price tag these days’
They used to say freedom of the press belongs to those who can afford to own one. Perhaps, we should now say the right to exercise your free speech rights before local government agencies belongs only to those who can afford to pay for sending out public notices.
(4th ST8)
ACLU says begging is ‘free speech’
Calling the statute an infringement on free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union wants a federal judge to block police in Arizona from enforcing a law making begging a crime.
(Maricopa Monitor)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
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31 Jul 2013 | In the News
#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)
AFRICA
MISA express concern over rise in media freedom and freedom of expression violations across SADC
Having gathered in Lusaka, Zambia on Saturday, 27 July 2013, for its annual general meeting, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) made a statement.
(Lusaka Times)
CHINA
Tech Terms Censored Online in China
China’s surveillance of its citizens’ digital activities is common knowledge. However, questions remain concerning what content is targeted by government censors and how these blacklists change in response to current events.
(Mashable)
EGYPT
AFTE highlights the fine line between freedom of expression and incitement
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) released a report Tuesday distinguishing between what it called legitimate freedom of expression and hate speech tied to incitement of violence and racial discrimination.
(Daily News Egypt)
FRANCE
Censorship, Mediapart and the butler’s tapes
Following a court decision that became effective last Monday, independent French news website Mediapart has had to withdraw the infamous Bettencourt “butler tapes” from its website, as well as 72 articles including quotes from the recordings, prompting a campaign of solidarity in the French and international media.
(Index on Censorship)
GLOBAL
Extreme Internet censorship proposals challenged
As you may have heard, the latest round of secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks have been taking place in Malaysia over the last two weeks. As with previous rounds, the Malaysia TPP talks took place in an atmosphere of near-total secrecy. Citizens, public interest groups, and internet users have been completely excluded from the negotiations, which are taking place between a small cabal of old industry lobbyists and unelected bureaucrats.
(Rabble)
MALAYSIA
Let people judge controversial movies
The decision by the Film Censorship Board to review the film ‘The New Village’ after having already given it the green light makes a mockery of our nation’s laws, policies and commitment to the right to freedom of expression.
(Free Malaysia Today)
RUSSIA
Russia to Ban Swearing Online: UK to Follow?
Yesterday I wrote about the slide into censorship and self-censorship that the UK government’s misbegotten plans to impose a default set of Net blocks could bring about. Of course, the UK is not alone in seeking to introduce disproportionate schemes.
(Computer World UK)
Russia should learn from Britain’s record on gay rights
Russia’s new ‘propaganda law’ is a more extreme version of the UK’s infamous section 28. It must be internationally condemned
(The Guardian)
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi liberal blogger sentenced to 600 lashes and seven years in jail
A Saudi activist is being punished after calling for a “day of liberalism”
(Index on Censorship)
SLOVAKIA
Slovak lawyers demand apology for being depicted as pigs
The Slovak Bar Association has demanded an apology for a political cartoon depicting them as pigs, saying it is defamatory and dangerous.
(Index on Censorship)
TUNISIA
Release Femen Activist Held On Politically Motivated Charges
Today’s decision by a Tunisian court to dismiss a defamation case against the 18-year-old FEMEN activist Amina Sboui is only a partial victory, Amnesty International said as it called for her release.
(AllAfrica.com)
TURKEY
Intimidation and self-censorship rising in Turkey
Turkey currently holds 64 journalists in its prisons, according to the opposition. Since the begin of the Gezi Park protests, working as journalist critical of Premier Erdogan has become increasingly difficult.
(DW)
Turkey stands at the crossroads. Will it opt for democracy?
If the government changes its attitude to the protests, Turkey could become an exemplar state in the Muslim world
(The Guardian)
In Turkey, Critics of Erdogan’s Government Claim Familiar Pattern of Reprisal
The fallout from the June protests in Turkey is settling into a growing pattern of reprisal against those dissenting against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, critics of his government say. But that pattern may be backfiring, as it is fueling further discontent among Erdoğan’s opponents, and bolstering their ranks with some of his former supporters.
(Time)
UNITED KINGDOM
We can make Twitter better, but never perfect
Online misogny is a complex problem with no single solution
(Index on Censorship)
When it comes to free speech, Twitter is caught between a rock and a very hard place
An incident in which a British journalist was subjected to hundreds of abusive tweets has highlighted Twitter’s ongoing struggle to balance its defence of free speech and the rights of its users with the need to curb abuse.
(GigaOM
When it comes to free speech, Twitter is caught between a rock and a very hard place
It’s a question of where to start: TalkTalk’s filter provided by Huawei; more than porn will be blocked; UK’s ‘pornification’ MP Claire Perry hacked and now sued; at least one ISP in open rebellion; and Anonymous launches op PornStorm.
(Info Security)
Don’t lose your head over Hirst
Academics in Leicester object to a photo of Damien Hirst posing with a severed head being put on show – but why? It’s a work of genuine artistic integrity
(The Guardian)
UNITED STATES
Index on Censorship condemns verdicts in Bradley Manning case
Free speech organisation Index on Censorship condemns the guilty verdicts in the trial of Bradley Manning. However, we welcome the verdict of not guilty to the charge of aiding the enemy.
(Index on Censorship)
Bradley Manning: A verdict that shows a sense of perspective
In finding the the WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning guilty of espionage but not of aiding the enemy, a US military court delivered a verdict which showed a welcome sense of perspective after one of the most convulsive episodes in recent American judicial history.
(The Independent)
NYPD attempts to censor anticipated Park Avenue art project
An artist’s protests over his New York art installation raises the question of how to play nice in public spaces
(The Guardian)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
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30 Jul 2013 | In the News
#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)
CENSORED
David Cameron: Stop Sleepwalking into Censorship
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Open Rights Group)
BAHRAIN
Bahrain: The Arab Spring Protests You Don’t Know About
I am astonished by how little the media has covered the ongoing protests in Bahrain, Kuwait, and eastern Saudi Arabia. You would think that the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council states would be under a microscope, because what happens there immediately affects oil prices. But large media corporations have opted not to cover events in these countries, so as not to cause market panic. And there is a lot to panic about.
(Strat Risks)
CAMBODIA
Freedom of speech in Cambodia, but only in English
He’s back. After four years in self-imposed exile, Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy landed in Phnom Penh last Friday to throngs of flag-waving fans wearing white caps branded with a rising sun—the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s telltale logo. Rainsy came for the showdown: this Sunday, the CNRP will face ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party in parliamentary elections.
(Media Politics in Perspective)
GAZA
Hamas shut down media bureaus over Egypt coverage
Gaza’s de-facto Hamas government closed the office of Al Arabiya, Palestinian network Ma’an news and the local production company Lens on Thursday.
(Index on Censorship)
GLOBAL
Microsoft Wants Google to Censor…. Microsoft.com
In an attempt to make pirated content harder to find copyright holders ask Google to remove millions of search results every week. While these automated requests are usually legitimate, mistakes happen more often than one might expect. For example, in an embarrassing act of self-censorship Microsoft recently asked Google to censor links to its very own Microsoft.com.
(Torrent Freak)
INDIA
There’s a natural censorship inside my system: Shah Rukh Khan
A ‘self aware’ actor will never do a film that is not an extension of his personality, believes superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who refrains from saying or doing certain things.
(Firstpost)
RUSSIA
RUSSIAN LGBT ACTIVISTS: BOYCOTT OF ALL THINGS RUSSIAN, OLYMPICS
Queer Nation today issued a press release which claims gay and lesbian activists in Russia support the recent dumping of Russian vodka. According to a statement included in the group’s release, those activists also support taking things a step further: boycott all Russian products – including the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
(Towleroad)
Russian Pirate Party threatens copyright owners with ‘Black August’
Chairman of the unregistered Pirates’ Party of Russia has called upon the public to completely boycott all copyrighted content in August this year in protest against the recently introduced anti-piracy law.
(RT)
SOUTH AFRICA
Archbishop Tutu: South Africa must reject homophobic discrimination
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, famous for his role in ending apartheid, has called on South Africa to reject homophobic discrimination as part of a new LGBT global public education campaign by the United Nations Human Rights Office.
(Pink News)
TUNISIA
Tunisia Femen activist ‘cleared of defamation’
A court on Monday dismissed one case against Tunisian Femen activist Amina Sboui in which she was tried for contempt and defamation, her lawyer said, calling the verdict “a victory”.
(AFP)
UNITED KINGDOM
Mass surveillance or just Big Data?
States, and companies, collecting huge amounts of data on people and populations around the world. Is this a mass surveillance nightmare – the digital Stasi roaming free – or just big data and we should get over it?
(Index on Censorship)
Will women benefit from fewer lads mags?
The Co-operative chain has told magazines such as Nuts and Zoo to clean up their act. Will women really benefit?
(Index on Censorship)
Labour MP Stella Creasy receives Twitter rape threats
States, and companies, collecting huge amounts of data on people and populations around the world. Is this a
mass surveillance nightmare – the digital Stasi roaming free – or just big data and we should get over it?
(Index on Censorship)
UK Porn Filter Will Censor Other Content Too, ISPs Reveal
Walthamstow MP uses Twitter to inform police of abuse in wake of arrest of man for threats made to banknote campaigner
(The Guardian)
Letter to my MP about web censorship
This morning I wrote to my MP, John Hemming, via writetothem.com to express my concern about web censorship
(Bruce Lawson)
Censorship or safety?
In essence, Cameron’s plan is to block pornography from every home in the UK unless the individual householder deliberately chooses to receive it. We are left to question whether this represents charitable, moral action on the part of our Prime Minister or the early stages of internet censorship
(Nouse)
Cyber Censorship: Freedom is the best filter
The definitive lesson we have learned from the digital age is that the internet is the most dynamic and adaptable tool for individual freedom that we have known in generations. Yet, the old adages still ring truer than ever: there is nothing more cumbersome and static than government regulation. That is why David Cameron’s attempts at censorship are doomed to fail; he needs freedom to decontaminate the internet for him.
(The Freedom Association)
UK Sleepwalking Into Censorship? More Like Running Into It At Full Pelt
We do not live in a free country. We all know that. Our libel laws are ridiculous. Our freedom of speech is curtailed should we be “offensive”. We live under the gaze of corporate and Government officials. Even some websites are blocked. But we can at least try to hold on to some of the freedom we do have; we aren’t Saudi Arabia or China after all.
(Freedom Is Not The Problem)
Sleepwalking into censorship
After brief conversations with some of the Internet Service Providers that will be implementing the UK’s “pornwall” we’ve established a little bit about what it will be doing.
(Open Rights Group)
Libel, Damages and the “Remedial Gap”: a declaration of falsity?
A number of lbel cases involve substantial awards of damages against defendants who are never going to pay. Sometimes the defendant is in a jurisdiction where a damages award cannot be enforced, sometimes the defendant has no money.
(The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog)
UNITED STATES
Momentum Builds Against N.S.A. Surveillance
The movement to crack down on government surveillance started with an odd couple from Michigan, Representatives Justin Amash, a young libertarian Republican known even to his friends as “chief wing nut,” and John Conyers Jr., an elder of the liberal left in his 25th House term.
(The New Work Times)
Jenny McCarthy, Censorship and Free Speech
Most of you have probably heard by now that anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy has been picked to be a host on ABC’s The View. Following the announcement, there was a media uproar lambasting the decision. Newspapers, magazines and blogs erupted with posts questioning the wisdom of giving her a platform with millions of viewers from which she could spew her vaccine-related misinformation and fear-mongering.
(Harpocrates Speaks)
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July 29 | July 26 | July 25 | July 24 | July 23 | July 22 | July 19 | July 18 | July 17 | July 16 | July 15 | July 12 | July 11 | July 10
25 Jul 2013 | Turkey, Turkey Uncensored, Volume 42.02 Summer 2013
Journalist Yavuz Baydar has been fired by Turkish daily newspaper Sabah, after articles he wrote criticising the government were censored
In the latest report, Freedom in the World 2013, Freedom House defines Turkey as ‘partly free’.
Authorities in Ankara – both the government and bureaucrats – refute these claims, although the Ministry of Justice openly admits that there are serious shortcomings when it comes to providing for freedom of expression, both in law and implementation.
Some international organisations, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), meanwhile, help build the myth that Turkey tops the world rankings for one of the worst ‘oppressive’ states because of the number of jailed journalists there. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that there are 49 journalists in prison, while Reporters Sans Frontières put the number at 72, if the number of people includes all jailed media professionals. But claims that the country is entirely free or grossly oppressive are both wrong. These extreme views must be taken with a pinch of salt; the truth is somewhere in between.
The complexities of Turkey today make it a unique case, demanding careful examination so that clichés can be dispersed, particularly those deriving from the perception that the country remains a police state, as it was prior to the late 1990s.
Turkey today is exactly as Freedom House says it is: not ‘free’, nor ‘not free’, but ‘partly free’.
In this context, Turkey’s problems are already out in the open.
Thousands of Kurdish activists connected to the Koma Civakên Kurdistan network – affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – as well as around 200 students and 72 other journalists and activists (mainly Kurdish) are in detention.
According to the monitoring site engelliweb.com, internet access is blocked to approximately 9000 websites, mostly on an arbitrary, non-transparent basis.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an regularly files libel charges against journalists and cartoonists, a move that singles him out because other powerful figures do not engage in similar practices. He has developed a habit of lashing out at the media in public, which has had dire consequences.
The so-called ‘mainstream media’, in other words, the 85 per cent of it controlled by proprietors who are for the most part engaged in vast business activities other than media (and therefore dependent on the government for economic interests), is suffocated and distinctly lacking in freedom and editorial independence.
In big media outlets, fierce censorship and self-censorship are practised on a daily basis.
They are severely crippled in their pursuit of journalism, unable or unwilling to cover corruption and abuse of power or to allow critical voices and dissent to be heard. When it comes to particular topics, such as criticism of the government, corruption or abuse of power, news stories are either filtered or unpublished; direct censorship – the actual blacking out of text – is exercised when material is found to be ‘too sensitive’ for the government’s or newspaper owners’ interests. But at the same time, there is little problem with pluralism and diversity, as opposed to countries like Iran, China, Azerbaijan or Belarus. With more than 40 national dailies (including a few independent newspapers and a vital partisan, antigovernment press), 2500 local papers, 250 private TV channels (of which 18 broadcast news seven days a week, 24 hours a day), 1300 radio stations and more than 150 news websites and online portals, Turkey has a big, competitive sector. Internet access is increasing at a huge rate, with access passing the 50 per cent mark recently. Because of the internet, despite attempts to command control, this is a milieu in which no story or comment is missed.
Anti-terror law and Ergenekon
The state of Turkey’s media freedom has been oversimplified, looking only at the number of journalists incarcerated without distinction, without looking closely at the specifics for those detentions. It’s a remnant of Cold War mentality. ‘Turkey is an undemocratic country’ has become almost like a slogan, concealing far deeper problems that extend throughout many sectors and structures within Turkish society.
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It is true that people are in jail for voicing dissent, among them journalists. Almost all of them are Kurds who, because of the very nature of the Kurdish cause they pursue, combine publishing and self-expression with activism. This means their activity falls inside the boundaries of the utterly problematic Anti-Terror Law, which makes it extremely difficult to distinguish between those who
are members of terrorist groups that commit acts of violence or praise acts of terrorism and those who are simply exercising their right to express opinion. Dissidents, including journalists, have faced detention and prosecution because the law makes it practically impossible to make these important distinctions. The Anti-Terror Law must, at the very least, be revised so that it conforms to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) or, better still, abolished altogether.
Around 10 per cent or so of those jailed are Turkish journalists whose imprisonment relates to the Ergenekon case – a clandestine, undemocratic, politically motivated mafiastyle network that, among other acts over a number of years, plotted a series of coups to oust the government and parliament. Since 2008, dozens of journalists have been arrested in connection with Ergenekon plots, together with hundreds of military officers.
Yet, in these cases, the most obvious clash with ECHR directives has to do with the extremely lengthy detention periods and trial procedure (take, for example, the case of Özkan vs Turkey). Needless to say, Turkey should have determined these periods of incarceration in line with international standards, including EU human rights legislation, releasing journalists while they awaited their trials. But apart from these cases, the European Court of Human Rights has rejected many appeals lodged by the accused, undercutting the assumption held by many that journalists should enjoy immunity even when charged with serious crimes such as conspiracy.
In addition to anti-terror laws, there are dozens of articles – in the Penal Code, in Turkey’s Internet Law, the Press Law and Turkish Radio and Television Law – that restrict freedom of expression and freedom
of the press. Some are implemented on a regular basis and some remain dormant, though still on the books. These punitive measures threaten freedom in Turkey, applying not only to media but also to academia, NGOs, political parties and ordinary citizens across the country.
The rise of independent media and the threat to public interest
Paradoxically, Turkish ‘glasnost’ under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the past decade, with the immense help of the EU accession process, has meant, for the most part, that there are no longer many taboo subjects. National mass hypnosis is over. Tiny but independent news outlets – like the dailies Taraf and Zaman or the weekly Nokta – have helped broaden debate about the country’s murky past, untangle myths about the army being the guardian of the system and expose crimes against humanity.
In a pluralist and hugely diverse environment such as Turkey’s, it would be a lie to claim that news dissemination has been fully blocked. Take the case of the Uludere bombing in 2011, when a group of Kurdish villagers were attacked by Turkish fighter jets as they travelled from Iraq along a well-known smugglers’ route, resulting in 34 deaths. Main media group outlets failed to report on the killings for almost a day, but minor papers and those using social media began reporting on the incident
within minutes of it happening.
It could be argued that Turkey has one of the most independent medias in the world – it is truly a phenomenon.
Many countries in democratic transition after the end of the Cold War have had complex changes in their media environment, particularly in southeastern Europe, the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus. From the late 1980s on, this environment has been marked by the emergence of a new type of media proprietor who often – as in some Balkan countries as well as in Russia – entered the media sector with other businesses in tow, with mafia-like habits and connections, with the aim of money laundering, or with enormous greed. For the most part, these players aimed to use media outlets as a tool for keeping government and bureaucracy in check because they became fearful of what might be reported in this new, thriving media landscape, but these people and companies only had personal business gains in mind. Turkey has been part of this reality, and those coming to it from wellestablished, high-standard media environments in the West either do not understand or do not consider the considerable threats to media freedom to be important.
In some countries, for example, Albania, Serbia and Ukraine, media conglomerate proprietors operate in alliance with the ruling powers, establishing politics-media cooperation in the service of their mutual interests, rather than allowing media to serve the public interests.
This addictive system is the primary source of censorship and self-censorship in the wider region, and the blame for destroying the prospects of good journalism must be shared equally between politicians and media owners. In Turkey, in most cases, proper coverage of corruption and any investigative journalism are completely dead. Because this proprietor prototype is in essence non-transparent, Turkey’s media has never bothered to or been in a position to demand transparency or accountability from those in control of the news. In this context, nowhere in the world is the self-destructive role of media proprietors more visible, more irrational or more aggressive than in Turkey
On 19 October 2011, Prime Minister Erdog˘an assembled media proprietors in Ankara to ask for ‘help’ regarding ‘terror coverage’. It’s a call the media should have rejected, but instead they went beyond even what the prime minister had desired: they openly begged him to tell them exactly how long he thought TV dispatches on funerals connected with terrorism should be and shamelessly offered to set up a ‘censorship committee’ by themselves! If created, it would be tasked with ‘filtering’ news prior to publication, particularly when it pertained to clashes between the military and the PKK and political statements issued by them and other Kurdish activists.
In a more recent case, on 18 March 2013, there were reports that the proprietor of the daily newspaper Milliyet, Erdog˘an Demirören, forced veteran pundit Hasan Cemal to resign after he wrote a column defending the right to publish accurate stories, no matter how ‘disturbing’ they would be for the government or media owners. The article was never published, a breach of the journalist’s contract with his employer. Accused of causing the departure of Cemal, Prime Minister Erdog˘an, in his blunt manner some days later, explained that the very same proprietor had visited him to ask whom he should appoint as editor-in-chief for the newspaper.
The uphill struggle: how to solve Turkey’s media dilemmas?
These episodes speak volumes about how polluted Turkey’s media corporate culture is today. Media professionals – by which I mean real, decent journalists, and not those who either defend the government no matter what, or those who condemn it outright under the false belief that all journalism must be oppositional and not critical – face two rather hopeless challenges.
The first frontline for journalists is the political executive and the legislature. Unless the current government amends all laws in favour of freedom of expression and the press, these problems will keep reappearing. In general, the current parliament is a forum of intolerance for freedom of the press, opinion and dissent. In the mindset of the current parliament, the ‘old Turkey’ still rules.
Secondly, media proprietors represent a real challenge to free speech: most of them have no clue about the role and nature of good journalism.
I have long argued that unless these media owners are challenged, one cannot simply go on blaming everything on the political powers. But how do we challenge media owners? Because this is the key to enhancing freedom and independence in Turkey.
It is an uphill struggle. Journalists in Turkey have been forced to live under the ‘unholy alliance’ between governments and big media owners. It is a vicious cycle and very tough to break. We must persuade owners not to interfere in editorial decisions and let us be; we must encourage them to ct transparently in their businesses. Currently, none of them has the civil courage or the wisdom to be on the side of journalists’ fight for freedom.
We could try to persuade the government to ban media owners from entering public tenders, restrict cross-ownership, support local media and allow high share investments for foreign capital owners, with the aim of giving much more autonomy to the national broadcaster, Turkish Radio and Television.
And, of course, we can pressure the government to ensure union activities and memberships in all media outlets are protected by law.
Although their cases are of course the most urgent, problems regarding media freedom in Turkey will not cease to exist when all the journalists in jail – detained or sentenced – are released and pardoned. Turkey can never be part of the democratic league as long as it insists on suppressing and punishing dissent and free speech. But if we limit our professional struggle to these cases only, and introduce minimal amendments to some of the worst laws, we will continue to affect only the tip of the iceberg. If we do only this, held back by a sector that is bleeding spiritually, ruled by owners who are insensitive to the profession, operating without independence, we will continue to operate in appalling conditions, where newsrooms resemble open air prisons.
Freedom must be coupled with true professional independence.
©Yavuz Baydar
Yavuz Baydar is a columnist for Today’s Zaman and was, until he published a piece criticising media ownership in The New York Times, the news ombudsman for the daily newspaper SABAH
This article is from the current edition of Index on Censorship Magazine. | Subscribe
Turkey Uncensored is an Index on Censorship project to publish a series of articles from censored Turkish writers, artists and translators.
