Media and Democracy in Turkey: Towards a Model of Neoliberal Media Autocracy

Murat Akser, Banu Baybars-Hawks

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    93 Citations (Scopus)
    2042 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    This paper reveals the ways in which media autocracy operates on political, judicial, economic and discursive levels in post-2007 Turkish media. Newsmakers in Turkey currently experience five different systemic kinds of neoliberal government pressures to keep their voice down: conglomerate pressure, judicial suppression, online banishment, surveillance defamation and accreditation discrimination. The progression of restrictions on media freedom has increased in volume annually since 2007; this includes pressure on the Doğan Media Group, the YouTube ban, arrests of journalists in the Ergenekon trials, phone tapping/taping of political figures and the exclusion of all unfriendly reporters from political circles. The levels and tools of this autocracy eventually lead to certain conclusions about the qualities of this media environment: it is a historically conservative, redistributive, panoptic and discriminatory media autocracy.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)302-321
    JournalMiddle East Journal of Culture and Communication
    Volume5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 1 Nov 2012

    Bibliographical note

    Reference text: Adaklı, Gülseren (2001). Yayıncılık Alanında Mulkiyet ve Kontrol [Ownership in the
    broadcasting sector and its regulation]. In Beybin Kejanlıoğlu, S. Celenk and Gülseren
    Adaklı (eds.), Medya Politikaları, pp. 145–204. Ankara: Imge.
    —— (2006). Türkiye’ de Medya Endüstrisi: Neoliberalizm Çağında Mülkiyet ve Kontrol İlişkileri [Media industry in Turkey: Ownership and control in the age of neoliberalism]. Ankara: Ütopya.
    —— (2009). The Process of Neoliberalisation and the Transformation of the Turkish Media
    Sector in the Context of the New Media Architecture. In Jackie Harrison and Bridgette
    Wessel (eds.), Mediating Europe: Communication in Contemporary European Culture
    Contents, pp. 286–317. Oxford: Berghahn.
    —— (2010). 2002–2008: Türk Medyasında AKP Etkisi. In İlhan Uzgel, and Bülent Duru (eds.), AKP Kitabı: Bir Dönüşümün, pp. 559–613. Istanbul: Phoenix.
    Akın, Altug (2010). Dirty Seeds of Media Transformation in Turkey: The Vertigo of
    Communication. EastBound 2010(2). Accessed 9 August 2012: http://eastbound
    .eu/2010/akin.
    Alemdar, Korkmaz (2004). The Early Years of the Republican Press. Boğaziçi Journal 18(1–2): 35–41.
    Aykol, Hüseyin (2008). Haber Basinindan Islamci Medyaya. Istanbul: Agora Kitaplığı.
    Bagdikian, Ben H. (2004). The New Media Monopoly. Boston: Beacon Press.
    BBC (2012). Turkey’s Military and the Alleged Coup Plots. Accessed 11 March 2012: http://
    www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16447625, 6 January 2012.
    Bora, Tanıl (2002). Cem Uzan ve Neo-Fasizmin Yeni Yuzu: Sirket Konserlerinden Partiye.
    Birikim 162: 53–60.
    Chomsky, Noam (2003). Media Control. New York: Seven Stories Press.
    Cinar, Menderes (2006). Turkey’s Transformation Under the AKP Rule. Muslim World 96:
    469–486.
    Cizre, Ümit (2008). Secular and Islamic Politics in Turkey: The Making of the Justice and
    Development Party. London and New York: Routledge.
    Cizre, Ümit and Menderes Çınar (2003). Turkey 2002: Kemalism, Islamism, and Politics in
    the Light of the February 28 Process. South Atlantic Quarterly 102(2–3): 309–332.
    Çölaşan, Emin (2007). Kovulduk Ey Halkin Unutma Bizi. Ankara: Bilgi.
    Demir, Ömer, Mustafa Acar and Metin Toprak (2004). Anatolian Tigers or Islamic Capital:
    Prospects and Challenges. Middle Eastern Studies 40(6): 166–188.
    Doğan, E. (2005). The Historical and Discoursive Roots of the Justice and Development
    Party’s EU Stance. Turkish Studies 6(3): 421–437.
    Eğrikavuk, Işıl (2011). ‘Ekşi-users’ Raid Sour Web Freedom. Hürriyet Daily News. Accessed 22 April 2012: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=8216eksi
    -users8217–raids-sour-web-freedom-2011–06–26, 6 June 2011.
    Elgar, Katrin, Daniel Steinvorth and Issabel Hülsen (2009). Political Feud in Turkey Scares
    Off Foreign Investors. Der Spiegel. Accessed 20 April 2012: http://www.spiegel.de/
    international/world/0,1518,615422,00.html, 25 March 2009.
    Filkins, Dexter (2012). Turkey’s Jailed Journalists. New Yorker. Accessed 9 August 2012: http://
    www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/03/turkeys-jailed-journalists.html,
    9 March 2012.
    Finkel, Andrew (2000). Who Guards the Turkish Press? A Perspective on Press Corruption in
    Turkey. Journal of International Affairs 54(1): 147–166.
    Fraser, Susan (2011). Turkish Website Threatens to Post More Sex Tapes. Guardian.
    Accessed 22 April 2012: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9651433,
    18 May 2011.
    Freedom House (2011). Accessed 17 July 2011: http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
    -world/2011/turkey.
    Friedman, Steven (2011). Whose Freedom? South Africa’s Press, Middle-class Bias and the
    Threat of Control. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 32(2):106–121.
    Gottschlich, Jürgen (2011). Arrested Journalist’s Book Claims Turkish Police Infiltrated by
    Islamic Movement. Der Spiegel. Accessed 19 April 2012: http://www.spiegel.de/
    international/world/0,1518,755508,00.html, 6 April 2011.
    M. Akser and B. Baybars-Hawks /
    318 Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5 (2012) 302–321
    Gülalp, Haldun (1999). Political Islam in Turkey: The Rise and Fall of the Refah Party. Muslim
    World 89: 22–41.
    —— (2003). Globalization and Political Islam: The Social Bases of Turkey’s Welfare Party.
    International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 33: 433–448.
    Güvenç, Duygu (2007).The AKP Celebrates Glorious Victory. Turkish Daily News. 23 July
    2007.
    Haber 24 (2008). Erdoğan: Doğan gazetelerini almayın. Accessed 11 March 2012: http://www
    .haber-24.com/28793_Erdogan–Dogan-Gazetelerini-Almayin.htm, 19 June 2008.
    Hafez, Kai (2005). Globalization, Regionalization and Democratization: The Interaction of
    Three Paradigms in the Field of Mass Communication. In Robert A. Hackett and Yuezhi
    Zhao (eds.), Democratizing Global Media: One World, Many Struggles, pp. 145–164.
    Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
    Hammarberg, Thomas (2011). Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom in Turkey. 12 July
    2011, Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe,
    Strasbourg.
    Heper, Metin and Tanel Demirel (1996). The Press and the Consolidation of Democracy in
    Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies 32(2): 109–123.
    Herman, Edward S. and Noam Chomsky (2002). Manufacturing Consent: The Political
    Economy of Mass Media. New York: Pantheon.
    Herman, Edward and Robert McChesney (1999). The Global Media in the Late 1990s. In
    Hugh Mckay (ed.), The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, pp. 178–210.
    London: Sage.
    Hürriyet (2007). YouTube tartışması. Accessed 11 March 2012: http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/
    goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=6082796, 8 March 2007.
    Hürriyet (2008a). Demokrasi ve özgür basını içine sindir. Accessed 11 March 2012: http://
    hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=9843271, 8 September 2008.
    Hürriyet (2008b). Turkish PM’ s Attack on Media Casts Shadow on Supervisory Bodies.
    Accessed 11 March 2012: http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=9888517
    &tarih=2008–09–13, 9 September 2008.
    Hürriyet (2008c). Gazetecilerin Akreditasyonu Geri Verilsin. Accessed 11 March 2012:
    http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=10592664, 18 December
    2008.
    Hürriyet (2009). Mahkemede Bile Dinlenme Korkusu. Accessed 11 March 2012: http://
    hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=11224134, 17 March 2009.
    Hürriyet (2011a). 1 Kaset 6 İstifa” (1 Tape 6 Resignations). Accessed 11 March 2012: http://
    hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=17845464, 21 May 2011.
    Hürriyet (2011b). Arınç, medya patronlarıyla bir araya geldi. Accessed 11 March 2012:
    http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/ShowNew.aspx?id=19293913, 21 November
    2011.
    Hürriyet Daily News (2011a). Turkish Police Raid Printing House, Erase Unpublished Book.
    Accessed 11 March 2012: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid
    =438&n=turkish-police-raids-printing-house-erases-unpublished-book-2011–03–24,
    24 March 2011.
    Hürriyet Daily News (2011b). Turkish Internet Filtering Plan ‘Unconstitutional’ Experts Say.
    Accessed 19 April 2012: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid
    =438&n=internet-filter-2011–05–04, 5 May 2011.
    Hürriyet Daily News (2011c). Action against Turkey’s Internet Ban Demanded in Europe.
    Accessed 11 March 2012: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid
    =438&n=member-of-the-european-parliament-asks-european-commission-to-take
    -action-against-the-internet-ban-in-turkey-2011–05–24, 24 May 2011.
    M. Akser and B. Baybars-Hawks /
    Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5 (2012) 302–321 319
    Hürriyet Daily News (2011d). Erdoğan’ s Bedroom Talks Illegally Taped: Minister. Accessed
    11 March 2012: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogans-bedroom-talks-illegally
    -taped-minister.aspx?pageID=238&nID=8277&NewsCatID=338, 1 December 2011.
    Jenkins, Gareth H. (2011). Above the Threshold, Below the Belt: The Video Campaign against
    the MHP. Turkey Analyst 4(11). Accessed 1 March 2012: http://www.silkroadstudies.org/
    new/inside/turkey/2011/110530A.html.
    Jones, Dorian (2011). Critics Challenge New Internet Controls in Turkey. Voice of America.
    Accessed 22 April 2012: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Critics
    -Challenge-New-Internet-Controls-in-Turkey-120641439.html, 25 April 2011.
    Judson, D. (2010). Erdoğan Seeks to Turn ‘New Page’ with Turkey’s News Media. Hürriyet
    Daily News. Accessed 11 January 2011: http://212.31.2.101/n.php?n=Erdoğan-seeks-to
    -turn-new-page-with-turkeys-news-media-2010–09–25, 25 September 2010.
    Karaca, Ekin (2011). State’s ‘Secure’ Internet Filter Applied on 22 November. Bianet: News in
    English. Accessed 22 April 2012: http://bianet.org/english/english/134200–states
    -secure-internet-filter-applied-on-22–november, 22 November 2011.
    Kaya, Raşit (1994). A Fait Accompli: Transformation of Media Structures in Turkey. Metu
    Studies in Development 21(3): 383–404.
    —— (1999). Türkiye’de 1980 Sonrası Medyanın Gelişimi ve İdeoloji Gereksinimi. Türk-İş
    Yıllığı’ 99, 2 Cilt. Ankara. Accessed 19 April 2012: http://www.dorduncukuvvetmedya
    .com/arsiv/akaya.htm.
    Kaya, Raşit and Barış Çakmur (2010). Politics and the Mass Media in Turkey. Turkish Studies
    11(4): 521–537.
    Kayakiran, Firat (2009). Surveillance Spooks Turks as Wiretaps Grow. Hürriyet Daily News.
    Accessed 22 April 2012: http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11335022.asp,
    31 March 2009.
    Kelly, Spencer (2011). Internet Censorship Increases in Turkey. BBC News. Accessed 22 April
    2012: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9647872.stm, 25 November
    2011.
    Keyman, E. Fuat (2010). Modernization, Globalization and Democratization in Turkey: The
    AKP Experience and its Limits. Constellations 17: 312–327.
    Kiriya, Iliya and Anna Kachkaeva (2011). Economical Forms of State Pressure in Russian
    Regional Media. Romanian Journal of Journalism and Communication 6(2): 5–11.
    Koloğlu, Orhan (2004). The Printing Press and Journalism in the Ottoman State. Boğaziçi
    Journal 18(1–2): 27–33.
    McChesney, Robert (2008). The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging
    Dilemmas. New York: Monthly Review Press.
    Meyen, Michael and Anke Fiedler (2011). Media Control in the GDR as Political PR Operation.
    A Case Study on Structures of Public Communication in Socialist Countries. Journal of
    Media Research 4(1): 3–12.
    Oates, Sarah (2007). The Neo-Soviet Model of the Media. Europe-Asia Studies 59(8):
    1279–1297.
    Ognyanova, Katherine (2009). Careful What You Say: Media Control in Putin’s Russia—
    Implications for Online Content, Conference Papers—International Communication
    Association, 2009 Annual Meeting.
    Öncü, Ayşe (2004). The Interaction of Markets and Politics: The Remaking of the Turkish
    Media Industry in the 1990s. Boğaziçi Journal 18(1–2): 11–26.
    Önis, Ziya (2004). Turgut Özal and his Economic Legacy: Turkish Neo-Liberalism in Critical
    Perspective. Middle Eastern Studies 40(4): 113–134.
    —— (2006). Globalization and Party Transformation: Turkey’s Justice and Development
    Party in Perspective. In Peter Burnell (ed.), Globalizing Democracy: Party Politics in
    M. Akser and B. Baybars-Hawks /
    320 Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5 (2012) 302–321
    Emerging Democracies, pp. 122–140. London: Routledge,Warwick Studies on
    Globalization.
    Önis, Ziya and Barry Rubin (eds.) (2004). The Turkish Economy in Crisis. London: Frank
    Cass.
    Özbudun, Ergun (2006). From Political Islam to Conservative Democracy: The Case of the
    Justice and Development Party in Turkey. South European Society and Politics 11(3–4):
    543–557.
    Ragnedda, Massimo and W. Glenn Muschert (2011). The Political Use of Fear and News
    Reporting in Italy: The Case of Berlusconi’s Media Control. Journal of Communications
    Research 2(1): 43–54.
    Rainsford, Sarah (2008). ‘Deep State’ Plot Grips Turkey. BBC News. Accessed 22 April 2012:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7225889.stm, 4 February 2008.
    Reporters Without Borders (2011). Seizure and Destruction of Ahmet Sik’s Unpublished
    Book: A Very Dangerous Precedent. Accessed 14 February 2012: http://en.rsf.org/
    turquie-seizure-and-destruction-of-ahmet-25–03–2011,39890.html, 25 March 2011.
    Reuters (2010). Turkey Reinstates YouTube Ban. Accessed 19 April 2012: http://www.reuters
    .com/article/2010/11/03/us-turkey-youtube-idUSTRE6A227C20101103, 3 November 2010.
    Rubin, Michael (2005). Green Money, Islamist Politics in Turkey. Middle East Quarterly 12(1):
    13–23.
    Şahin, Haluk (2011). Can Cekisen Bir Meslek Uzerine Son Notlar [Final notes on a dying
    profession]. Istanbul: Say.
    Skinner, David, James Compton and Mike Gasher (2005). Converging Media, Diverging
    Politics: Political Economy of News in the United States and Canada. Lanham, MD:
    Lexington Books.
    Sönmez, Mustafa. (1996). Türk Medya Sektöründe Yoğunlaşma ve Sonuçları. Birikim 92:
    76–87.
    —— (2010). Medya, Kültür, Para ve İstanbul İktidarı. Istanbul: Yordam.
    Sümer, Burcu (2010). The Impact of Europeanisation on Policy-making in Turkey:
    Controversies, Uncertainities and Misfits in Broadcasting Policy (1999–2009). Ankara
    Üniversitesi Avrupa Toplulukları Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi Araştırma Dizisi,
    No. 35. Ankara: ATAUM.
    Stockmann, Daniela and Mary E. Gallagher (2011). Remote Control: How the Media Sustain
    Authoritarian Rule in China. Comparative Political Studies 44(4): 436–467.
    Strauss, Delphine (2011). Sex Tapes Cast Cloud over Turkey Elections. Financial Times.
    Accessed 9 August 2012: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1463a932–84af-11e0–afcb
    -00144feabdc0.html#axzz1snPmhpsl, 22 May 2011.
    Temelkuran, Ece (2012). Turkish Journalists are Very Frightened—But We Must Fight this
    Intimidation. Guardian. Accessed 14 February 2012: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
    commentisfree/2012/jan/27/turkish-journalists-fight-intimidation, 27 January 2012.
    Tepe, Sultan (2005). Turkey’s AKP: A Model ‘Muslim-Democratic’ Party? Journal of Democracy
    16(3): 69–82.
    Tilic, Dogan (2000). Media Ownership Structure in Turkey. Ankara: Progressive Journalists
    Association.
    Today’s Zaman (2007). Erdoğan Turns New Page in Second Term in Power. Accessed
    11 January 2012: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-117494–Erdoğan-turns-new-page
    -in-second-term-in-power.html, 24 July 2007.
    Today’s Zaman (2011a). Filter Options not a Threat to Internet Freedoms, says BTK. Accessed
    19 April 2012: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-242950–filter-options-not-a-threat
    -to-internet-freedoms-says-btk.html, 5 May 2011.
    M. Akser and B. Baybars-Hawks /
    Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5 (2012) 302–321 321
    Today’s Zaman (2011b). Ekşi Sözlük Officials Respond to Claims of Defamation of Character.
    Accessed 9 August 2012: http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/newsDetail
    _getNewsById.action?newsId=263504, 21 November 2011.
    Today’s Zaman (2011c). Turkish Court Accepts Online Blasphemy Case, ECtHR Ruling
    Precedent. Accessed 19 April 2012: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-266864
    –turkish-court-accepts-online-blasphemy-case-ecthr-ruling-precedent.html, 27
    December 2011.
    Today’s Zaman (2012). Court Drops Charges against Turkish Journalist after Erdoğan
    Withdraws Case. Accessed 19 April 2012: http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail
    _getNewsById.action?load=detay&newsId=275125&link=275125, 22 March 2012.
    Tuncel, Hakan (1994). Bab-Ali’den İkitelli’ye. Birikim 64: 33–38.
    Tunç, Aslı (2003). Faustian Acts in Turkish Style: Structural Change in National Newspapers
    as an Obstacle to Quality Journalism in 1990–2003. In Orlin Spassov (ed.), Quality Press
    in Southeast Europe, pp. 306–323. Sofia, Bulgaria: SOEMZ/Sofia University.
    Vela, Justin (2012). Behind Bars in the Deep State. Foreign Policy. Accessed 12 January 2012:
    http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/11/behind_bars_in_the_deep
    _state?page=0,2, 11 January 2012.
    Vikilani, Sione F. (2010). Media Freedom and State Control in Tonga. Pacific Journalism
    Review 16(2): 62–80.
    Yavuz, M. Hakan (1997). Political Islam and the Welfare (Refah) Party in Turkey. Comparative
    Politics 30(1): 63–82.

    Keywords

    • media autocracy
    • censorship
    • surveillance
    • AKP
    • journalism

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Media and Democracy in Turkey: Towards a Model of Neoliberal Media Autocracy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this