"An open and transparent relation between the press and public authorities is indeed elementary to the quality of the democratic debate in any country. This is particularly true for a country like Turkey, which is going through a difficult process of transformation and reform. The Commission is therefore very closely following the ensured existence of press freedom in Turkey. It should be genuinely respected, as it is the very foundation of any open society, and thus of the continued democratic transformation of Turkey."This statement is part of the address Olli Rehn, EU commissioner responsible for enlargement, gave to the European Parliament.
If you think everyone would agree with the postulate on the correct relations between the press and authorities, alas, you are wrong. How dare Rehn touch this subject, Gürsel objects, when the largest independent media group faces extinction by the efforts of the government and the road to authoritarianism is being paved. Therewith, Rehn is on the same frontline as the enemies of press freedom, Gürsel concludes.
Once you identify your work with your proprietor's corporate interests, there is no longer an obstacle before you, if you see everything through his spectacles. It is "lethal" to keep the basic rule in mind that even the proprietor of a media outlet can be subject to legal processes and must be treated consequently as an object of a news story. This is now what has eclipsed the minds of more than a handful of colleagues who mix up allegations of illegal tax procedures with press freedom.
Do we have problems with press freedom and free speech in Turkey? Yes. Many of my columns are simply about those breaches.
Is there a threat of silencing the press and a push for self-censorship through enhanced authoritarianism here? Without a doubt. The threat is real, by way of politicizing and polarizing the media.
But the real solution is not in defending the proprietors' acts, but in conducting good journalism. If the press acts like any fine, honest, independent press does elsewhere, only then do we have a real frontline for defending our rights and role. It is therefore important that Rehn points out the cause of the problem, rather than its symptoms. How a journalist positions himself/herself to authorities and how he/she identifies with democracy define the genuineness of his/her professional conduct.
Journalism is, to a very large extent, derailed in Turkey. Nowadays, a deplorable inflation of the term "press freedom," "freedom of expression," is made by those who in their right minds should have never used it. Journalism in Turkey is serving all the interests but its very own, with few exceptions.
Let us examine the most spectacular case to date: the curious case of Mustafa Balbay.
I do hope you read his story in today's paper. A colleague (daily Cumhuriyet) and a suspect in the Ergenekon case, Balbay, earlier taken into interrogation for alleged activities for being part of a terrorist organization with the aim of overthrowing the constitutional order and toppling the government, was recently detained again.
Immediately after the arrest, protests were heard: How dare you arrest a man who does his job, some columnists objected. Some of Balbay's documents were taken to the prosecutor's office and the protesters argued that he was entitled to keep secret documents at home. What's wrong with that? some of his colleagues asked. Then, the entire episode developed into an action: A group of columnists gathered some days ago in what they call a "historic act" at Cumhuriyet and signed Balbay's books for the public. "We are all Balbay!" they declared. According to the Press Council's chairman, Oktay Ekşi, this act was to "defend the freedom of expression."
Then, on Monday, the Tempo weekly published the diaries of Balbay. He thought he had deleted them before the police raid and was surprised when the police told him that they had "saved" the entire text.
It is a document of shame: As you can read today, the diaries tell how deeply a "journalist" was involved in clandestine activity -- as an accomplice, not as a covert reporter -- to provoke top military officials to a coup.
"We are all Balbay," claimed the signatories: Ironically, it is true. The tragic fact is that when I look at them, I see only a mental impasse. The precedent they set in their capacity as leaders of journalistic organizations allows the invasion of Balbays to continue.
By the way, Chairman of the Press Council Ekşi is well known for his constant efforts in the 1990s to issue report after report to refute international organizations as CPJ, Reporters sans frontières, etc., which published lists of jailed journalists. Ekşi fully devoted his energies to tell them they were "terrorists," not "journalists." Those poor colleagues worked for small, leftist and fundamentalist journals. They were not entitled to be Balbays.
