Press Freedom in Turkey
How free is the freedom of expression for the Turkish journalists in the Turkish press?
Dissertation Title: Press Freedom in Turkey. Freedom of the press is an invaluable part of a democratic society. Many liberal nations allow free exchange of information without restrictions. Over the recent years, a decline in press freedom was reported by international organizations in Turkey. Violation of international human rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights in Turkey is one of the prime reasons of investigation. In this research, twenty-two journalists were interviewed to extract information on the freedom of the press in Turkey. The data was analysed using triangulation. The results indicate a growing dissident of the journalists union in Turkey due to the lack of reporting freedom on critical issues such as politics, religion and terrorism. Reports also suggest a global backsliding of the government to fulfil its promises of democratizing the country. The findings of this paper match with the observations of international whistle-blower organizations such as Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The research performed in this paper helps to bridge the gap of understanding between media and the people of Turkey. The research highlights the effects of media bias on a society and presents recommendations to improve reporting freedom in Turkey.
The dissertation is written to conduct research among Turkish journalists and present the findings. The primary aim of the paper is to investigate the behavior of the government towards journalists in Turkey. This goal can be understood as the level of freedom, journalists have in writing what they want under observance of the Turkish press. Freedom of expression among journalists means that they are able to present the facts and figures without filtering any information and leaving it to the public to decide and create their own viewpoints. A comparative approach towards estimation of cases reported by international organizations and my personal observations, and field research with in-depth interviews and written interviews with journalists of the Turkish press will help to answer the hypothesis at the end of the research. Assuming that the challenges of working as an independent reporter in the Turkish press and media could have increased over the recent decade, the paper will present the findings in the later sections.
Apart from the primary question, researcher will form and present a list of secondary questions that create a strong case for the primary question and subsequent evaluation of the hypothesis. Secondary questions are developed to answer the primary question as they are more accessible and straightforward to analyze. The secondary questions are:
- What is freedom of expression and why is it important and what entails it?
- What is the current situation of Turkish journalists and how is the media landscape in Turkey evolving?
- Are there any changes in the Turkish freedom of expression over in the last decade?
- Are there sensitive topics to write about as journalists in Turkey and what are these topics?
- What are the international rules and regulations when it comes to freedom of expression in the press?
- Which legal sanctions are threatening freedom of expression and press freedom according to the Turkish penal codes?
- What do international institutions and organizations say about freedom of press in Turkey?
- What does Turkish journalist say about their own press freedom in Turkey?