Media attempts to design politics doomed to fail, analysts say

 The strong media endorsement of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as the new leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which was shaken by the resignation of its long-time leader earlier this month, has brought to mind the habit of some Turkish media outlets of designing politics in the way they want.

In the wake of the emergence of a video clip that revealed CHP leader Deniz Baykal’s alleged affair with a CHP deputy, some newspapers, journalists and TV stations that were once the strongest allies of Baykal embarked on a campaign to urge him to resign from party leadership, saying this would be the most appropriate action even though the video was argued to be part of conspiracy.

After Baykal’s resignation was ensured, the same media outlets did not have any difficulty in pointing to Kılıçdaroğlu as the CHP’s possible new leader because they had already endorsed him as the politician most likely to take over the leadership from Baykal during his run for the İstanbul mayoralty in 2009’s local elections.

Although Kılıçdaroğlu increased his party’s votes in İstanbul, he failed to be elected, but the winds blowing in his favor for CHP leadership back then were immediately blowing again even more strongly after the CHP’s turbulent times.

With the media’s support behind him, Kılıçdaroğlu was elected as the new CHP leader at last week’s general assembly. Rejoicing in his election, some newspapers celebrated his victory on their front pages with enthusiastic headlines in the following days.

The headlines of some front-page stories in the days following Kılıçdaroğlu’s election included: “CHP’s votes with Gandhi to rise to 32.3” (Vatan), “Even his [Kılıçdaroğlu’s] name boosted CHP’s votes” (Milliyet), “Kılıçdaroğlu wind” (Radikal), “Pro-public era at CHP” (Vatan), “CHP running toward power” (Milliyet), “Citizen Kemal versus Recep Bey [the way Kılıçdaroğlu refers to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]” (Posta), “He [Kılıçdaroğlu] started fast, created enthusiasm” (Milliyet), “Recep Bey can no longer sleep comfortably” (Sözcü), “Great Union” (Hürriyet) and “Gandhi Kemal era at CHP, joyful general assembly” (Haber Türk).

The political future of the figures who are strongly endorsed by the media despite a lack of public support for them is very likely to be disappointing, noted Naci Bostancı, an instructor at Gazi University’s faculty of communications, who recalled how similar media attempts to bring certain politicians to certain positions have all ended in tears in the past. “As long as there is no public support, media endorsement of politicians is bound to end in tears,” Bostancı told Sunday’s Zaman.

The same media outlets carried out similar campaigns in favor of other politicians and political parties in the past. For instance, when the New Turkey Party (YTP) was established by a group of deputies, including former Foreign Minister İsmail Cem and Hüsamettin Özkan, who parted ways with the Democratic Left Party (DSP) in 2002, some media outlets strongly supported the party, saying that it would unite the Turkish left under its umbrella. Nevertheless, the party only got 1 percent of the nationwide vote in the 2002 general elections and decided to merge with the CHP as a result of its failure to thrive. Such media endorsement campaigns were carried out for Tansu Çiller and Mesut Yılmaz. Çiller is not currently active in politics, and Yılmaz is an independent deputy in Parliament.

Hürriyet daily columnists Oktay Ekşi (L) and Tufan Türenç (M)drew strong criticism when they enthusiastically applauded Kılıçdaroğlu by standing on chairs at the CHP general assembly over the weekend. Ekşi is also head of Turkey’s Press Council. Ertuğrul Özkök (R)

Bostancı also said the media furor over Kılıçdaroğlu is slowly fading away and leaving its place to rationalism, as the same media circles have already begun to question what Kılıçdaroğlu will do for the nation.

According to Salih Memecan, president of the newly founded Media Association and a cartoonist, it is normal for members of the media to take sides in political issues and support a political figure, as he thinks this is a part of their jobs. However, Memecan says journalists should be very careful to not try to manipulate the public while taking sides with a politician or his/her movement.

“When it is understood that some media members make plans and projects to design politics, their attitudes become disturbing. Such an attitude harms both the media and the nation,” Memecan said.

“The work of journalists is to comment on politics, not to try to shape it,” he added.

What position should journalists take?

Hürriyet daily columnists Oktay Ekşi and Tufan Türenç drew strong criticism when they enthusiastically applauded Kılıçdaroğlu by standing on chairs at the CHP general assembly over the weekend. Ekşi is also head of Turkey’s Press Council.

Surprised by the way these journalists showed their obvious support for Kılıçdaroğlu, the Radikal daily’s Akif Beki addressed the issue in one of his columns last week, labeling the actions of these journalists as “partisan.” “Out of the euphoria of victory, these journalists have revealed their true colors. It turns out that they are fierce partisans. Those who are labeled ‘pro-government’ cannot even compete with them in partisanship. These partisan journalists label those who are not in their group ‘pro-government.’ Come on! Who mobilized the journalists while Kılıçdaroğlu was entering the assembly hall? Did not a jubilant Ekşi and Türenç applaud Kılıçdaroğlu by standing on their chairs? Who is pro-government and who is partisan?” wrote Beki.

Interestingly enough, the group of journalists carrying out a campaign to boost Kılıçdaroğlu’s popularity is the same group that accuses journalists who work for newspapers such as Zaman, Star, Yeni Şafak, Bugün and Sabah of being “pro-government,” a claim rejected by these media organs.

Media observer Ragıp Duran explained that journalism means maintaining an equal distance from all power centers, noting that since journalism is a kind of opposition by nature, its general approaches and attitudes may sometimes overlap with those of the opposition parties. Even in such cases, he said there should be differences between the opposition of the media and the policies of the opposition party.

“Otherwise, while a journalist is trying to fulfill his duty to be concerned about the public benefit, the poor and the right, he may turn into a mouthpiece of the opposition party,” he warned.

Since the relations between the media and politics got out of control and reached unethical dimensions during the 1990s, those who want the perpetuation of this tradition wish for the return of the old days, noted Yavuz Baydar, a Sunday’s Zaman columnist and news ombudsman for Sabah daily.

In his view, these media circles who want the media-politics dialogue to continue in the way it used to be are showing resistance to the normalization efforts in the media with a vicious discourse.

“The remedy of this illness is to remain loyal to the actual function of our profession, to make a differentiation between news and commentary. There should be editorial independence in the news while a free line should be adopted in comments. And the permanent relation between a newspaper and its audience should have the utmost importance,” suggested Baydar.

What did pro-Kılıçdaroğlu columnists write?

“Turkish democracy, which has suffered much from a leader’s dominance and autocratic structures thus far, is opening a new page today. If a leader has come to power by an anonymous referendum, rest assured that this leader will also determine the deputies of his party in the same way,” wrote Hürriyet’s Ertuğrul Özkök last Saturday, when Kılıçdaroğlu was certain to be elected CHP leader.

“It is as if it is someone else, not him, who will be elected leader at the CHP’s general assembly and perhaps change the fate of Turkey in the next general elections. Kılıçdaroğlu is so self-confident and calm that he may drive his rivals, mainly Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, crazy,” wrote Hürriyet’s Yalçın Doğan on May 22.

Another Hürriyet columnist, Tufan Türenç, wrote on the same day: “The CHP general assembly to be held today will be a historic one. Most probably, a brand new CHP will emerge. Everyone will see that Turkey is ready to get rid of the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] government. This is not very far off.”

“Great Union” (Hürriyet) “He [Kılıçdaroğlu] started fast, created enthusiasm” (Milliyet) "Second Republican People's Party" (Akşam) Pro-public era at CHP” (Vatan) “Citizen Kemal versus Recep Bey [the way Kılıçdaroğlu refers to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]” (Posta) Second Karaoğlan [A term which was used for late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit to describe his pro-public political approach].