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Turkish media: ideologically silent and half-blind
Despite the fact that the plan, called the Cage Operation Action Plan, included subversive plans to create chaos in the country with the ultimate goal of ousting the government, newspapers from the Doğan Media Group such as Hürriyet, Milliyet, Radikal and Vatan, as well as other newspapers such as Akşam, Haber Türk and Sabah, did not write a single word about Taraf’s report in the following days.
Only when detentions and arrests were made regarding the plans in the following days and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talked about the plan in a speech he delivered at his party’s parliamentary group meeting, did these newspapers carry the news, days after it was first revealed.
Questioning Turkey’s performance regarding freedom of the press, the Sabah daily’s news ombudsman and a Today’s Zaman columnist, Yavuz Baydar, criticized Sabah for failing to cover the Cage Operation Action Plan in his column last week.
“In spreading views, freedom of press is very strong in Turkey, but in giving news, there is a trend of going backward. There are many newspapers which turn a blind eye to a newsworthy item due to ideological polarization, an allergy to democracy and hidden militarism. Readers are negatively affected by this. It is certain that the media is undergoing a historic crisis in Turkey,” wrote Baydar.
Indicating that the Turkish media is undergoing a crucial test, Baydar said as more striking facts are revealed and they are followed by allegations and judicial process, it is seen that some opinion leaders and editors in the media who have key roles stumble and give priority to their ideological and political leanings before their professional concerns.
“News is hidden, it is ignored or distorted; instead of giving an account to readers about mistaken journalism, editors recklessly choose to challenge the readers, saying, ‘It is none of your business.’ This is the case during social transformation processes. In every profession, the fake and authentic are differentiated,” explained Baydar.
According to Hüseyin Gülerce, a columnist for the Zaman and Today’s Zaman dailies, there is media polarization in Turkey, but it is not pro-government and anti-government as some claim, but rather pro-democracy and anti-democracy. He said the pro-status quo media circles which have been defending military tutelage since the establishment of the Turkish Republic, taking the side of the deep state because their interests overlap, are very disturbed by the emergence of alternative media sources in Turkey which stand up for democracy.
“They neglect to disclose shady plans because when they cover these plans, the ground they depend on will be lost,” said Gülerce.
Emphasizing the fact that the mission of the media is to inform the public correctly, he said the negligent attitude of some newspapers in the wake of horrendous military plans was contrary to press ethics and the rules of professional journalism.
The same newspapers also neglected to fully cover the story in October when the original of another military action plan that aimed to destroy the government and the faith-based Gülen movement was uncovered, giving either limited or no coverage to the news.
Commenting on the failure of the newspapers in question to cover the shady military plans detailed in the Cage Operation Action Plan, Taraf daily columnist Alper Görmüş said: “The case of a newspaper which does not cover news that reveals such horrendous allegations is like the case of a police station which neglects a report of murder on the suspicion that it may not be real.”
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