Being a Foreign Journalist in the U.S.A- Cansu Çamlıbel Talks About Her Experience as a Foreign Correspondent in Washington

Cansu Çamlıbel was the second guest in the weekly journalists’ meeting held in the Press House as part of the Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media (M4D) Program. Çamlıbel talked about her experiences as Hurriyet Newspaper Washington Representative from 2017 to February 2019.

Many journalists attended the talk titled “Being a Foreign Journalist in the Donald Trump Era of the U.S.A- Washington Correspondent Period”.

M4D Program Assistant Director Seva Ülmen made the opening speech with these remarks: “The main goal of our program has been specified as strengthening media pluralism and independent press as a safeguard for democracy. In this context we have many facilities at the service of anyone and any institution with a background in journalism. Our guest today, Cansu Çamlıbel, has worked as a U.S Washington correspondent for two years. She is going to share her experiences of being a foreign correspondent during the Donald Trump administration. I first met Cansu while we were both working as diplomatic correspondents. I remember her for her politeness, strong work ethic and high-quality journalism.”

Çamlıbel, who spoke after Ülman, remarked that she started her U.S mission in 2017 with the offer of then chairman of the executive board of Hürriyet newspaper Vuslat Doğan Sabancı and chief editor Sedat Ergin. Çamlıbel began her position two days before Donal Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, she remarked that being a correspondent and representative are intertwined in America. Çamlıbel talked about her first impression of Washington which was a “deathly silence” as nobody in Washington knew what to expect. A third of the bureaucracy resigned noted Çamlıbel, and those who didn’t took leave in order to not watch the inauguration.

The U.S reminded me of objectivity

Çamlıbel emphasized she it was a hard time to be a journalist for the two years she worked in Washington as relations between Turkey and the U.S were tense. Çamlıbel remarked that she experienced quite a bit of stress and added that while she was getting to know the politics of the U.S many developments she thought would make headlines didn’t have the impact she had anticipated. News sources from both sides refrained from talking remarked Çamlıbel and added “Nobody wanted to talk. Sedat Ergin, who had worked as Washington Correspondent for 7 years, told me that Turkish journalists in the U.S were given great value, but the situation changed to let’s not talk to Turkish journalists if we don’t have to when I was there.”

“You can take sides on some subjects but being emotional and partiality are perceived quite differently in America. America reminded me of objectivity. I was reminded of how important this is, how to look at the news in a detached way, I mean Anglo Saxon journalism… Unfortunately, we have strayed away from this as the Turkish media.” Çamlıbel added that due Donal Trump constantly changing his mind and pursuing contradictory policies made things very difficult for everyone and that you always had to be on the watch. She made the following remarks regarding Trump and his relations with Turkey:

“Trump’s relations with Turkey, considering he is a real estate mogul, begin with his investments here [Turkey], and the Trump Towers in Istanbul, he has good memories of Turkey. But after he took office the documents he was confronted with regarding Turkey contained the Syrian situation, Gülen situation, NATO and relations with Israel. There are bilateral talks, and they are generally quite sincere, but the agenda says something else, so do the statements and phone calls. It’s the first time in American history where a president says one thing to the bureaucracy and another thing to the leaders of foreign countries. World leaders, politicians, and journalists are subjected to such a president, so you can’t act freely because you’re always on your toes.”

Hierarchy among journalists

Çamlıbel said that there is hierarchy among journalists in Washington, organizations such as the Associated Press, Agence Frances Press are given the first three rows during the President’s speeches so they are given priority and can ask more questions than anyone else. Then come ABC, Reuters and similar fifteen media organizations, and then media organizations from the rest of the world, which have to struggle to ask a single question to the President.

Çamlıbel added that journalists were able to ask any question they wanted and could corner the President, and that this was an enviable situation.

We’ve been swept to different corners as journalists in Turkey

A listener asked Çamlıbel “Could you please compare journalism in America and Turkey?”, Çamlıbel answered: “I’m not going to differentiate between American journalism, or English or French, I’m closer to the American ones but all my colleagues were there. From the Guardian, and Le Monde… I don’t think journalism reflexes are any different there. We did what we did for the benefit of the public and had the responsibility of asking questions regarding developments. The struggle to ask one single question wasn’t for me, it was to inform 80 million people. We journalists exist to ask questions and to question everything. Such things happened that we questioned the democrats, too. Although the American press has a lot of animosity towards Tump, Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal was widely discussed and criticized.

Keeping this in mind, we cover up negative things Ekrem İmamoğlu has done even if we do sympathize with him, this goes for anyone. We may have our own opinions in our private lives, but as journalists we must be objective and be equal. Unfortunately, journalists we’ve been swept to different corners as journalists in Turkey. I was swept to a different corner during the Gezi Park protests, too. This is what I was reminded in America, we are working for the benefit of the public and we shouldn’t forget what.”

The news means people

Çamlıbel emphasized that especially journalists in Ankara are doing a very difficult and tedious job and that there are some world-class journalists among them. Çamlıbel also stated:

“We have problems rooted in the system. Only through changing the perspectives of media bosses and production directors and cutting free from political pressure can we start to look at things with hope. Despite the challenges, our colleagues are working hard and we need to continue doing this. Journalists in Turkey have to feel their way through the profession. This is only possible if you’ve actually been able to enter the profession, the situation for the new generation doesn’t paint a pretty picture. We pushed on by receiving a helping hand, so to speak, we learned some things through master-apprentice relationships. Graduates are being assigned to deal with the technical aspects of newspapers’ websites, but these graduates don’t come in contact with the main focus of the news which are people. The news means people. No matter what branch of journalism you’re in, you can’t just write and answer emails. You have to know how to reach the news. We’re going through some serious problems but there’s the question of shifting media, there’s also the pressure of digitalization. In the West, small papers are shutting down but papers like the New York Times is planning to transition completely to digital and its readers are backing the paper. I’m for raising awareness in Turkey by providing people with media literacy training.