Open discussion of freedom of the press a necessity, say observers

Haluk Şahin, mass communications expert and professor of journalism, said evaluating the massive fine on the group as a correct decision because the group's publications have been producing one-sided or untruthful stories is “extremely dangerous.”

“This is nothing but a perverted, totalitarian argument,” he told Sunday's Zaman. “Press freedom is in existence because it allows wrongs, too. Wrongs and rights are out in the open, and wrongs should be publicly corrected. This is how it is in democratic and pluralistic societies.”

He recalled the words of John Milton, who wrote in 1644, at the height of the English civil war in his legendary “Areopagitica,” which is known as one of history's first passionate defenses of freedom of expression. He also said the press should be free as long as it does not disseminate words of hatred and incite violence. He added that the Doğan Group is not angelic when it comes to the deviant presentation of news in the name of the public interest and nothing else, but that it is not much worse than the other alternatives. Therefore, he stressed the political motivations behind the record tax fine.

Another observer, Aslı Tunç, an associate professor of media studies at İstanbul Bilgi University, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told thousands of his supporters at political rallies “Don't read those newspapers that carry incorrect news,” and then the tax authority penalized the media group with a huge tax fine, the highest ever imposed on a Turkish company.

She emphasized the hostile atmosphere between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Doğan Group.

“The real motive behind the tax penalty seems very fishy. So the tax fine looks like the government's vendetta against the Doğan Media Group. However, in a true democracy neither such an attitude of the political establishment nor an unregulated media structure should be tolerated,” she said.

Following an initial tax penalty of more than $500 million that was leveled against the group in February for tax irregularities connected to the sale of a 25 percent stake in its television unit to German publisher Axel Springer, the latest fine was issued on Sept. 8 due to the findings of investigations by inspectors that Doğan companies had concealed the profits from the share transfers among the partners and had avoided paying corporate tax and value-added tax (KDV) on the revenue from transfers.

Initially, Doğan Yayın accused Finance Ministry officials of acting indiscriminately against the group and of applying the laws incorrectly. There are also reports that Doğan Holding is seeking a settlement with the officials rather than filing a lawsuit for the abrogation of the fine.

Many critics noted that instead of utilizing a stick and carrot policy when dealing with the media, the government should establish an independent tax inspection system to prevent abuses.

‘Media can turn into monster’

Tunç also noted that it would be hard to think that the Doğan Group “which was an obvious target for criticism because of their poor standards of journalism, lack of professional ethics, close links with the political establishment and their anti-union attitude for years” would turn into a defender of press freedom.

“Many media groups and institutions in Turkey are reluctant to support the Doğan Media Group in the name of press freedom. Among the many reasons for this reluctance is either the fear of being the next target of the prime minister's fury, or being openly pro-government. I consider this a sad irony of our country,” she added.

One important element that journalism professionals have been ignoring in Turkey is that they do not agree on common professional values, said Professor Şahin.

“Call it a professional ideology. In short, the common values should be about writing facts or nothing, resisting forces against press freedom and a strong attachment to press ethics. No matter which newspaper we work for, we should be able to agree upon those basic principles,” he said.

However, there exists an “ideological hegemony” in the press, he said, explaining that there is a split in the media between “us” and “others” or “enemies,” and as a result, when a journalist from one camp is penalized or jailed, the opposing camp cheers.

“This situation points to a professional crisis in the press. When media has no ethics and fairness, it can turn into a monster,” he said.

‘Gov’t should remove its shadow over media’

In his column in the Milliyet daily, a Doğan Group publication, Hasan Cemal underlined the difficulty of working within a media group that has been targeted and writing the truths he believes in. He added it is possible that he could be accused by some as being pro-boss.

“I know the difficulties. I was in media management before. But I have to stress that it is essential in democracies that political forces should do away with their shadow over media. If governments do not fulfill this criterion, they would harm their countries and themselves,” he wrote in a recent article.

Cemal also mentioned the Sept. 12 New York Times editorial about the issue of press freedom in his column.

It is not so often that The New York Times, the world's newspaper of record, pens an editorial on the affairs of Turkey. But once it does, its words are strong as in the editorial titled “A Clear Assault on the Press.”

The respected newspaper was as supportive of Turkish democracy before in another strongly worded editorial back in May 2007 as it was critical of Turkey's generals. Then it demanded that Washington needed to tell the generals “a military coup would have highly damaging consequences.” This was following the nomination of former Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül as the next president of Turkey and the rigidly secularist military's threat to overthrow the democratically elected government because Gül's pious wife publicly wears the Muslim headscarf, perceived as an offense by Turkey's unyielding secularists.

‘All media organizations will suffer’

Some other observers also point out the fact that the healthy discussion of a free press is not possible in an environment in which the press has been politically polarized.

“I see the Doğan Media Group as the media arm of ‘politics' which target the government as an ‘enemy.' However, the government does not have a right to target any media group as an ‘enemy.' My evaluation does not carry so much importance in that regard. The important thing is that the society has such an increasing perception, and it is the duty of the government to eliminate that perception,” said Alper Görmüş, the now-defunct Nokta weekly's editor-in-chief and a long-time observer of the Turkish media.

He added that there is a broad-based segment in Turkey that sees some parts of the society and its representatives as the “enemy” and campaigns in opposition with the goal of “eliminating the enemy.”

According to media researcher Ragıp Duran, the present “fight” is between two powerful forces which are the government and the media; and one seeks to establish absolute domination over the other.

“Theoretically, media cannot out-power the political power. It has to negotiate sooner or later,” he said.

When asked by Sunday's Zaman what journalists should do to retain their professional ethics, he said the right attitude would be to remain at an equal distance to both powers. There should be also an effort for the production of ideas to create a media which would not expect support from the government in its various interests and at the same time to create a government which would not interfere with the press.

Other suggestions include the government banning media owners from entering public tenders in areas other than media itself; ban or severely restrict cross-ownership; increase the share limits of foreign actors in media outlets; and pass the new Trade Union Law.

Meanwhile, Görmüş said it is likely that reporters will suffer the most in the current environment because the government is going to keep scrutinizing the press camp which it considers “opposition,” and this camp will also continue its efforts to scrutinize the “others” described as “proponents” of the government.

“As a simple economic result of this situation, all media organizations will suffer,” he said. “I hope it will not be the reporters who will be dispensed of first.”

He added that unfortunately the media managers are likely to cut from their hard news coverage and reporters in order to “lighten their loads.”