@techreport{KurbanSozeri, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Kurban, Dilek and Sozeri, Ceren}, title = {Does media policy promote media freedom and independence? The case of Turkey}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-17525}, pages = {49}, abstract = {The report aims to analyze and explain the actors and processes of media policy making in Turkey; the substance and implementation of such policies; the legal framework governing media content; the ownership structure of the media; the working conditions of journalists; and the emerging social efforts to combat discrimination and hate speech in the media. IT argues that the prospects for media independence and freedom in Turkey appear extremely weak. In a sector driven by corporate interests, nepotism and clientelist relations, the media owners do not have the incentive to provide truthful and critical news coverage. The historical weakness of trade unions in Turkey, the high level of unemployment among journalists, the high turnover rate in the sector and the deep divisions among journalists due to ideological differences make it very difficult for media employees to engage in a unified struggle against their employers. The lack of a strong pro-democracy social movement, the ideological conservatism of the judiciary, the institutional weakness of the parliament and the lack of democracy within political parties render the government -and future governments- too powerful vis-{\`a}-vis the society and the media. On the other hand, the inability and the unwillingness of the media to regulate itself, as well as the authoritarian and punitive nature of state regulation, has mobilized the civil society to monitor the media's compliance with universal principles and professional ethical codes and to combat discrimination and hate speech in the media.}, language = {en} } @techreport{KurbanElmas, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Kurban, Dilek and Elmas, Esra}, title = {Communicating Democracy - Democratizing Communication: Media in Turkey: Legislation, Policies, Actors}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-17535}, pages = {67}, abstract = {This report is an attempt to understand the relationship between media and democracy in Turkey. Towards that end, it situates the media in its political and historical context. It argues that Turkey's media structure falls under the "Mediterranean or Polarised Pluralistic Model" developed by Hallin and Mancini due to the very low level of newspaper circulation, the tradition of advocacy journalism, the structure of media ownership, the absence of an autonomous profession immune to pressure from politicians, interest groups, state institutions, the army and the judiciary and the extremely low level of unionization in the media which leads to high levels of labour exploitation. The report argues that despite relative progress achieved in the EU accession process, Turkey continues to fall far below the goal of harmonizing its legal framework with the EU's acquis communitaire, mainly due to the prevalent political culture and the historical origins of state-media relations in Turkey.}, language = {en} }