Worldwide, we in journalism are heading toward truly dire straits. Downsizing is, around the globe, of unprecedented proportions. And projections for the future at news institutions are done with great anxiety and uncertainty.
Unless the crisis takes a turn, the picture in two or three years may be miserable. This means, particularly in democracies where the press has its share in the benevolent power of scrutiny and cared-for independence, a new era in which we will see skyrocketing corruption simply because the press will be in a weakened position preventing it from doing its job.
For those who are interested in the subject, I would recommend an article in The New Republic (www.tnr.com) by Paul Starr. Titled "Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers," it is a sad account of an age nearing its end.
When the latest news about the charges of tax evasion, with a fine of TL 826.2 million, against the Doğan Media Group, a conglomerate of publishing companies under the umbrella of Doğan Holding, hit TV screens and Internet sites, I was about to leave London. To my surprise, at Heathrow Airport, I met Aydın Doğan, who was, not to my surprise, in a rather irritated and defensive mood. I had to listen to a lengthy explanation of what sort of unfair treatment the inspectors had subjected his powerful company to for months. He proudly repeated that he was amongst the country's top five taxpayers in recent years.
The fine amounts to an unusually high figure, and if we are to believe the latest reports, six more of Mr. Doğan's companies are also under scrutiny. This may come to mean that the omnipotent power center of what has long been labeled as the major king maker and breaker of Turkish politics is in serious trouble. It will eventually point to a new era of redefining the role of the press and a return to its basics, as analyzed so rigorously by Mr. Star in his article.
I told Mr. Doğan that I was sad about the development, particularly due to the fact that we in Turkey, as elsewhere, are faced with an approaching tsunami of unemployment and downsizing in the media. I thought that was all that could be said because few people can be certain of tax matters before the process is settled in court.
But, as expected, with the usual patterns of slaves serving the masters, almost the entire opinion team of the country's newspapers turned out to be tax experts within a day, reaching the conclusion that there was no tax evasion at all, that the whole episode was vengeance on the part of the government and that "press freedom" was in danger. Reading the columns of Milliyet's Ankara bureau chief was exactly like reading a report by the head of the accounting department at Doğan Holding. Suddenly the Doğan newspapers were filled with journalism "Zeligs" who could respond to all questions on tax matters.
It was as if their proprietor would be exempt from financial scrutiny forever because he has been operating in the domain of freedom of the press. This was so we were made to understand the whole affair: Any charge of tax evasion is a threat to press freedom.
What makes it sadder, from a journalistic point of view, is that the International Press Institute (IPI) was too swift to make that connection, contributing to the discrediting of a legal process, however right or wrong its grounds. Has the IPI seen the inspectors' full report? Nobody has seen it yet. We do not know enough to say anything.
IPI Director David Dadge said the following: "Prime Minister Erdoğan has escalated his verbal attacks on Doğan's newspapers for their reporting. He has called for his supporters to boycott Doğan and other newspapers, but this has not silenced them. The timing and unprecedented size of this tax fine raise serious concerns that the authorities are changing their approach from rhetoric to using the state apparatus to harass the media." I recommend that Mr. Dadge read the book by Emin Çölaşan, a columnist fired from the Doğan group, before he takes any bait from the Doğan Media Group to use the name of IPI.
Conclusions: Firstly, the IPI, in constant financial trouble, has sadly started to develop the image of an extended arm of the Doğan Media Group. So declarations on such issues will have no effect whatsoever. Secondly, the prime minister's attacks on the press are totally unacceptable and should be criticized. He must respect the role of the press and get used to its mistakes and editorial positions. Thirdly, immediately spreading the defensiveness in Doğan's news outlets to the opinion columns, then giving signals of an outright war against the government is also an act that betrays the basics of independent journalism. It shows that the columnists are either not independent vis-à-vis their boss, or that they feel the internal pressure to show loyalty. Fourthly, if the file on tax evasion is an "act of revenge" against a powerful media group, part of the story without a doubt lies in the misconduct of that very group in abusing its editorial power against the government.
The Doğan Media Group has been mismanaged for a long time, leaving the duty of objective and principled critique aside and surfing on the anti-reform wave "to get rid of the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] at any price," falling into the dark well of irrational behavior. It has either applauded or been silent about the cases that have led to the weakening of its rival media outlets. The group should engage in some serious self-criticism.
The damage to "independent journalism" has already been done, and one hopes that this worrisome episode will lead to an opening.
