Freedom House worries about military manipulation of media

 Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that publishes annual surveys on political and media freedoms, democracy and human rights, rated Turkey as “partly free” in the 2009 Freedom of the Press index. While ranking Turkey at 101st place on its list, the report said threats against and harassment of the press continue to be significant problems. It also warned that constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press and expression are partially observed in practice and certainly undermined by other provisions restricting this freedom.

Judiciary put pressure on media

Karlekar said the judiciary presents another problem in restricting media freedom in Turkey by actions such as the blanket ban on the video-sharing Web site YouTube, which she described as quite unusual. “The pressure may not be coming from the government or head of state; in Turkey the judiciary is also very complicit in bringing some of these cases and then deciding to ban certain things. Sometimes the government may have better intentions, but others groups, such as the military and the judiciary, are the ones that are really putting the pressure on journalists,” she underlined.

 Asked if Freedom House has concerns about cases where journalists, such as Şamil Tayyar, who was convicted of publishing part of the evidence in the indictment of the Ergenekon case in his column, are being prosecuted for covering the trial of the clandestine network of people who were involved in a plot to topple the democratically elected government of Turkey by killing prominent minority and religious leaders, thereby creating enough havoc in the country to instigate a military coup, Karlekar said, “Even if there is no threat of going to jail, the financial penalties can be very severe, both for individual journalists and for media outlets.”

 She warned that the practice may lead to a great deal of self-censorship in some cases and could take a significant psychological toll on reporters who try to cover sensitive issues. “For editors, it is a very difficult decision to encourage a journalist to push boundaries when there may be very serious ramifications,” she underlined.

 Karlekar noted that Freedom House recognized in its report that there has been a significant improvement in media freedom in Turkey recently and that the country is not facing a situation where journalists are being killed or subject to serious physical threats, but she cautioned that other forms of pressure can also lead to self-censorship.

Media owners interfere in content

Karlekar further noted that the influence of media owners over editorial content is definitely an issue of concern for Freedom House. “Many media outlets are owned by businesses or conglomerates so there is some conflict of interest possible between the [news] coverage and other economic interests,” she said.

 Stressing that the problem is not unique to Turkey, Karlekar said that in many countries most of the pressure comes from owners and editors. “They have their own political agenda, interest or viewpoint. They may be doing it for commercial reasons. It is very frustrating for journalists,” she said. The Freedom House senior researcher also pointed out that “the quality of journalism is suffering in such outlets where you are not really covering serious political issues in depth. They are much more [focused on] entertainment and lifestyle issues.”

 Commenting on the Aydın Doğan tax evasion case, which resulted in a hefty fine against the group by the tax authorities, Karlekar said there are questions regarding the case and that political factors may have played a role. “It seems suspicious to us, but it is definitely a method that governments around the world are using to put certain outlets under pressure. It definitely happens in periods when there is a political event coming up like elections,” she said, cautioning, however, that the government may have a valid case regarding accounting irregularities or tax evasion charges in this situation and stressed that Freedom House will keep an eye on the case. “Hopefully it will result in a conclusion that is not overtly political,” she added.

 She also said she was concerned that there has been increasing polarization in the Turkish media recently. “It is harder to bring people together once the situation becomes very polarized, and if there are no balanced voices in the middle, then the media becomes a for-or-against type of propaganda instead of fulfilling its job,” she said.