By: YAVUZ BAYDAR

“As the blackout or utterly timid reporting of the recent protests undeniably proved, the conglomerate media of Turkey, which controls over 70 percent

of the sector, has now become an extension of the government and bureaucracy, an organic part of power politics.

Inevitably, the Turkish media was in the spotlight on Thursday during a largely attended conference, titled “Speak-Up!2,” in Brussels, organized by the European Commission.

I was one of the speakers. Here, I would like to share with you excerpts from my speech.

“The way the media deliberately failed to do its job before, during and after the protests has become a final litmus test for the miserable state of journalism in Turkey.

“Despite an impressive scope of pluralism, Turkey’s media, as of now, is in the midst of editorial paralysis — bruised and abused, threatened and intimidated at best, discouraged by various means to do its job on behalf of the public.

“Its main bulk, the so-called mainstream media — controlled by greedy, powerful moguls — is breaking apart under intense pressure for censorship and internalized self-censorship.

“On another level, partisanship in Turkey now displays signs of a witch-hunt, with informant activities comparable to the McCarthy era.

“The people’s outrage, on the other hand, on the streets and social media, has exposed another all-time low for trust in the profession. My colleagues are now deeply torn between submission, denial and intensive soul-searching.

“On freedom, what we have seen is the phenomenon of a negotiating partner with the EU continuing to defiantly implement punitive measures — in terms of legal investigations, a high number of prosecutions, detentions and jail sentences — with the aim of limiting the domain of free speech, public debate and dissent.

“The main problem remains the Counterterrorism Law [TMK], followed by the Turkish Penal Code [TCK] and the Internet Law. Despite the passing of the fourth judicial reform package, we have not noted any progress in favor of freedoms: People still remain in jail and detentions that long surpass the limits marked by the European Court have now, in many cases, turned into actual, de facto jail sentences. Needless to say, these issues of freedom are the most urgent of matters.

“Freedom and independence of the media are inseparable twins, and as I have long argued, if we only focus on freedom, we miss the big picture. Punitive measures and legal restrictions — mainly a product of a culture of intolerance encompassing the majority of Parliament — are only the tip of the media misery iceberg.

“As the blackout or utterly timid reporting of the recent protests undeniably proved, the conglomerate media of Turkey, which controls over 70 percent of the sector, has now become an extension of the government and bureaucracy, an organic part of power politics.

“Nowhere else in the world but in Turkey has the ruthless intervention and control of editorial content, as well as the submission of media proprietors, been so arrogant and out in the open. Turkey’s flourishing economy has caused such greed that money-blind proprietors not only ignore but oppose media professionals who do try to do their jobs in the name of the public. Often on a daily basis, without any government direction, they impose censorship, demand total submission to the employer and silence colleagues — one after another, knocking out those who defend our professional values.

“I am asked why the conglomerate media acted like an ostrich during the recent protests. My response is always simple: Follow the money. A quick study would show how many of those big media moguls have been given favors through public tenders in these huge projects of İstanbul, as well as other means. One of them recently won the $700 million Galataport deal. Another is a partner of the huge third airport deal for İstanbul, etc., etc.

“It is impossible to conduct critical journalism in such a polluted system, which has, in practice, turned Turkey’s big media newsrooms into open-air prisons. Coverage on economic corruption today is almost zero.

“It’s not surprising that not a single one of the media owners has shown any civilian courage to come out and defend what we all are fighting for: freedom and independence. As long as they take the side of the government that feeds them with carrots and more carrots, we have no chance of winning back the dignity of our profession.”