Financial crisis weighs heavily on Turkish media sector

The Çukurova Group has dismissed more than 400 employees in the last few months in an attempt to deal with the negative effects of the economic crisis. The staff members dismissed were mainly employed by the Akşam, Güneş and Tercüman dailies, Türk Medya magazine and the Sky Türk television station, all of which belong to the group. Although Akşam's newly appointed Editor-in-Chief İsmail Küçükkaya recently stated that layoffs would be a last resort, the initial signs are not promising, with employees at the daily worrying about what will happen next.

The Doğan Media Group is also trying to ease the impact of the turmoil through mass layoffs. Rumors are circulating that the group plans to dismiss 20 percent of its staff at the Hürriyet daily. The daily previously stopped the printing and distribution of its Friday supplement in a move to protect itself from the growing impact of the financial crisis. The Doğan Group has also dismissed many of its staff at CNN Türk.

Television stations NTV, of the Doğuş Group, and ATV, Sabah and Takvim, of the Turkuvaz Media Group, are facing a similar fate as CNN Türk. The Turkuvaz Media Group is known to have sacked more than 50 workers so far.

The most drastic reaction to the financial crisis came from the Ciner Group, which has suspended some of its long-awaited projects and begun to prepare for some more unexpected ones. While many were waiting for the group to launch a new daily under the name of Habertürk, the group chose to dismiss many employees from the Habertürk and Kanal 1 TV stations. It is said that the group has given the cold shoulder to experienced journalists and columnists that it has been attempting to get to work for the group for a long time. On the other hand, the group recently launched a new weekly magazine, a Turkish-language version of Newsweek.

Radikal daily columnist Haluk Şahin, a professor of communications at İstanbul Bilgi University, says that layoffs in themselves are not an efficient measure to minimize the impact of the financial turmoil on media groups.

"I am deeply saddened by the massive layoffs in the media. We all know that the budget allocated for the payment of staff salaries is not a great burden on media groups. To me, the real reason behind the dismissal of hundreds of journalists … is the lack of unionization. Journalists who get sacked have to seek ways to protect their rights individually, as most of them are not affiliated with a workers' union," stated Şahin.

A similar complaint was previously voiced by Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) President Ercan İpekçi, who warned media bosses not to see their workers as a means of reducing costs in times of economic pressure. "Media bosses see their employees, who have contributed to their companies for years, as a way to cut costs. Media workers refrain from being affiliated with a workers' union for fear of being sacked. Their not being members of a union gives bosses a trump card to dismiss them whenever they wish. Workers in the media sector should unite under the roof of a workers' union," he said.

Şahin also expressed the thought that media bosses need to find another way to combat the heavy impact of the financial turmoil. "How can a journalist, who is preoccupied with the thought of being sacked at any time, be productive? I'm sure that as soon as markets overcome the shock of the crisis and companies start allocating a greater budget to advertising, media outlets will breathe a great sigh of relief. I think this will take less than one year," he noted.

The Taraf daily is also faced with financial trouble, largely stemming from rapidly declining advertising revenue. The daily has been at odds with the General Staff and the government since it published confidential documents about a deadly attack in October 2008 by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on the Aktütün border outpost in Hakkari.

As many large companies are reluctant to confront the military, the company has not been raising enough advertising revenue to meet its expenses. In an attempt to gain some financial breathing room at a time of a collapse in revenue, the daily asked its readers to buy advertisements on its pages so that it could find a way out of the crisis without being obliged to lay off staff. The campaign was greeted with enthusiasm by readers, who lent financial support to the daily through small ads published in their names.

Closure of magazines, increase in newspaper prices

Another measure the Doğan Group resorted to in an attempt to ease the effects of the financial crisis is the closure of some weekly magazines.

The Tempo and Seda magazines were recently shut down by the group, which justified its decision by noting that "the two magazines did not bring any revenue to the group; instead, they posted losses."

Tempo used to come third in the Turkish news magazine market with around 8,000 readers on a weekly basis. Aksiyon leads the market with 34,130 subscribers, followed by Newsweek Turkey, the newcomer to the market. Another prominent Turkish news magazine is Aktüel, which belongs to the Turkuvaz Group. Aktüel is, however, no longer a weekly since the group decided to publish it twice a month. It currently has around 7,000 readers.

Some newspapers have chosen to increase their prices to withstand the growing financial turmoil instead of dismissing more staff members. Among these is the Doğan Group's Vatan daily, which has a daily circulation of around 190,000. The daily is now sold for TL 0.40 instead of the previous TL 0.35. The Türkiye daily has also seen a Kr 10 increase in price, currently selling for TL 0.50. The Sabah daily has also boosted its price by Kr 5 and is now TL 0.40. Cumhuriyet has raised its price to TL 1 from TL 0.75 for its weekend edition.

Role of the media in financial crisis

Many believe that the Turkish media have made the impact of the financial crisis worse by highlighting negative news and, as a result, lowering consumer confidence and investment activity. The news bulletins of many private television stations, including Kanal D, Show TV and Star TV, have been harshly criticized for projecting fear into people's minds with negative news and commentaries.

Ragıp Duran, a writer and sociologist, says the Turkish media have had serious problems in presenting the news related to the financial turmoil. "If there is a financial crisis, we need to be able to identify the external and internal factors which are causing the crisis. When we watch news bulletins, we can easily observe these factors," he stated.

Professor Bengi Semerci, a psychiatrist, stressed that there should be a clear line between information and intimidation. "In news programs, you need to inform people about developments in the correct way. If you present these developments as if there is no hope for improvement, you will make the public afraid and concerned. The way you present news may drive people to hopelessness," she remarked.