SULTAN YAVUZ- Implemented by the Association of Journalists and financed by the European Union, the Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media project hosted journalist-author Adnan Gerger at the Press House in Ankara.  In his presentation titled “Realism in the Media” Gerger talked about the changing media and the media’s relation with reality.

Prior to the presentation M4D Assistant Coordinator Seva Ülman gave brief biographical information about Gerger who has published 12 books, among them bestsellers, and is the recipient of the Yunus Nadi Award and more than 50 awards for his journalism. Ülman also mentioned that Gerger was born in Diyarbakır, is a graduate of Ankara University Fauclty of Language, History and Geography and began his career in journalism in 1980 starting in Hürriyet newspaper. Gerger who has worked as a correspondent, news editor and columnist for various newspapers, has also been a faculty member of Gazi University Communications Faculty for more than seven years. Gerger is the father of one child, he continues to write for various newspapers and literary magazines.
Beginning his talk by emphasizing how the definition of the media has changed Gerger stated that the media is an organ that determines how a society is informed but has been increasingly acting on the contrary. Gerger remarked that the media is in the centre of how the truth is portrayed, therefore it assumes a role beyond simply providing the news.

The Media has become a tool sustaining the political power
Quoting the famous American linguist and thinker Noam Chomsky “The universal rule of the journalist is to write the truth” Gerger underlined how the media functions in manufacturing truth under theocratic governments and how the peoples of these governments are not properly informed about developments, and are unaware of their unawareness. 
Emphasizing that the media has become a political language itself, Gerger cited Louis Althusser’s “ideological state apparatus” concept and remarked that the media is one of these apparatuses sustaining the political power. Stating that the media is being used for the construction of a new society Gerger said:
“Rather than acting as the fourth estate monitoring the state, the media has served to reconfigure the ideology of the political power. This in turn divides the public, it alienates, silences and creates consent. It criminalizes opposition voices, it prevents them from reaching the public. One cannot talk of democracy where opposition voices are silenced.  Defining the truth according to a single perspective serves ideological reconstruction. For example, the Gulf War was legitimized thanks to the media”.
The media has become a second government in theocratic states
According to Gerger new media has become quite manipulative, bending the truth to convince people in line with what the political will wants, which makes it easier for governments to exercise hegemony over nonreactive societies. A new society is being constructed according to Gerger and the political power’s will uses the media to transform society into an unquestioning audience. 
Emphasizing that the media, as an ideological apparatus, also strives to establish authority Gerger said “The media has become a second government in theocratic states. It is through the media the relations between a political power and the public are formed”.
Pointing out that social media has also been affected by these negative developments Gerger said that countries first resort to censoring the internet during extraordinary events, and although governments might seem to oppose digital media they use these channels the most themselves. Gerger said:
“Digital media has become the eyes and ears of the state. There is a panopticon structure where the state can surveil everything but be exempt of supervision.  No matter how much we talk about digital media, its supervision is in the hands of the political power…”