Implemented by the Association of Journalists and financed by the European Union (EU) the Media for Democracy/ Democracy for Media Programme continues to hold its weekly meetings in its Press House in Ankara. Our guest Ünsal Ünlü talked about “Transformation of the Media”, how the media was structured by the government.

M4D Programme Assistant Director Seva Ülmen, who made the opening speech, made these remarks: “Today we would like to introduce someone very special, who has worked in the field, in editing, managing, as a newscaster, as a presidential and parliament correspondent and many more areas… Ünsal Ünlü.

We will be ending the weekly talks we have been holding as part of the Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media Programme implemented by the Association of Journalists and financed by the European Union. I would like to remind you all that we will continue these talks in September. The main goal of the Media for Democracy programme is to strengthen media pluralism and freedom of the press. We have various supports for those who have a background in journalism. We have supports especially for unemployed journalists who want to continue practising their careers. For more information please visit out website.

Ünlü has worked in various fields of the profession, he has been made redundant for his beliefs or has left an organization due to not agreeing with how it functions. He has been given many awards for his success in the profession.” Ülman gave brief biographical information about Ünlü “A short time ago, in his own words to “practise independent journalism” Ünlü started broadcasting on Periscope. The broadcast was watched by only 37 people at the beginning but soon drew the attention of 80 thousand people. We hope our young journalist friends will benefit from the experience of Ünlü, who is married and is the father of one child.”

Ünlü “With the shift of media ownership in Turkey we see alteration in the media”

Ünsal Ünlü said “transformation in the media is caused by the change in the structure that comprises mainstream media and the formation of new media”. Ünlü, who started the profession in 1989 in TRT “Genç Haber” remarked that “it would be too easy to conclude that the media has been corrupted through the AKP government” and that it does not reflect the whole truth. According to Ünlü the first newspaper in Turkey was established so that embassies in Istanbul could communicate with each other, and in 15 years newspapers such as Takvim-i Vekayi were founded. He said “We have been struggling in structure we don’t know, that we don’t belong to, that’s why we can’t make headway.”

Transformation in the media started with changing governments during the Turgut Özal administration remarked Ünlü and added “during the vicious capitalism under Özal, the president said “My officials know what’s what”, and nobody made a sound. Public officials would earn one million 500 thousand liras, the cigarette packet in their pockets cost a tenth of their salaries. Nobody could ask “well how can you buy cigarettes?”, the media was affected by the alteration in how the state functioned.

Telecommunication made significant headway in the 1980s. Well, what did the real media owners do? The attitude of journalists is quite important here… We see that with the transformation of the media in the 1980s and the shift in media ownership, media in Turkey began to change. I would hear rumours about media owners when I first started my career in journalism like “Güneri Civaoğlu races lobsters, and he eats the one that loses”. Civaoğlu’s boss of course was different back then, there was a lot of money.

People turned a blind eye as the media was transforming, things began to change to such an extent that it wasn’t limited to only a shift in media ownership. Media bosses don’t enter the sector just for the prestige, they use their organizations to get things done. As media ownership changed so did the status of reporters. I think this was the instance when the integrity of journalism was lost. If someone loses their journalistic integrity in the media, I would suggest to not do much work with that person because you’ll end up forming commercial ties. That person won’t be practising journalism, they have something else on their minds. They could market something through their TV show, promote a company they have a deal with. But you don’t even need that anymore, you can make serious money just through your phone.”

Those who shared power surrendered the state after the big economic crisis

Ünlü commented that people do not read newspapers anymore, and have stopped watching television, and that mainstream media has become fraudulent. Ünlü who worked for NTV in 2001 as the AKP was being founded, commented that the party meetings held back then strongly reflect what the government has become today: “AKP was emphasizing a very important topic for the public but the media ignored this. The public had not overcome the trauma caused by the fascist coup of 1980, there was still a heavy military presence and AKP said they were going to “abolish military domination”, and economic reforms were going to be conducted and the EU was a priority. You can’t fight an economic crisis coupled with a social crisis. Those who shared power surrendered the state after the big economic crisis. They had to surrender the state because the voter base changed, the people really wanted this. This enabled unconditional success. The AKP had some interesting dreams about Turkey in its first four years. Some of these dreams are still dreams, but they’ve been portrayed really well. Relations with the EU are still a priority but it’s hard to believe that when it comes to practice.”

The evolution of television owners and the establishment of government media

Ünlü talked about the “broken” structure and the interesting strategy Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan followed:

“During the times of Prime Minister Tansu Çiller and Necmettin Erbakan the media was criticized as well, you would hear things like “Çiller’s media said this, and Çiller’s media said that”, but back then there was only one tv channel and one newspaper. Erdoğan’s approach had two dimensions; the first was the evolution of media ownership, the second was establishing his own media… He established his own media through an interesting strategy. After establishing newspapers, television channels, agencies he forced them to become dependent on him after bombarding the public with false information. We could talk about Star newspaper in this context. This paper was very active under Cem Uzan but constantly changed owners under AKP rule. Sabah newspaper is the same, too…

Later on, we see that except for Yeni Şafak which was established by the Albayrak family who has deep ties to the state, there is the Zaman newspaper that was created through the Fethullah Terrorist Organization and leaked into many state organs. Zaman’s circulation was thought to be 1 million 600 thousand, its real circulation was only 300 thousand but the state bought these papers and handed them out for free. There was a significant accumulation of wealth through this and it affected the transformation of the media the most. After the coup attempt on 15 July it was found that these people had infiltrated the state and had captured the media.”

No media organization was left I could work for

Ünlü mentioned that he worked as a political correspondent for almost his entire career and that there is a heavy balance between journalists in Ankara and politicians. He said the following about this situation and why he left work:

“It’s not something everyone can do, there’s a serious balance going on. As for being fired from NTV, I gave the number of people attending the Republic Protests. I was warned not to give the number of people attending the protests in Istanbul, but when I said the protesters reached a million, I was never put back on air. This was only the start but I was left without a job for 35 minutes. I got an administrative job offer from Habertürk, I wasn’t very fond of the idea of administration but I had to accept. During my two years as Ankara representative we were the number one news channel for the first six months. I was comfortable but what we were doing was not journalism.

The referendum in 2010 messed everything up. Erdoğan ordered his ministers to tell the public about how good the constitutional amendments would be, our phones never stopped ringing. Ministers would call us to talk about the referendum, I’d respond with “well, let’s talk about the June crisis as well”, after I turned down a few ministers our boss came to Ankara. I didn’t stand a chance of staying in the organization so I quit.

I returned to TRT Turk and for two years ran a tv show about politics; we did some good things there. But it was there that I got to see how deep the Fethullah Terrorist Organization infiltrated. I was trying to get a guest to join our programme, my assistant contacted me and told me our programme was not listed. I called the chief editor who did not answer my call, I later found out our programme had been replaced by a show called “Gönül Sohbetleri”. When they cut me off from there, they cut me off from everywhere else. I had been doing dubbing for 35 years, they cut me off from it. I was going to do a voiceover for an advertisement, they cancelled it. This happened so many times that I decided that I needed to do something by myself.

It was then that I started using the Periscope application. Ruşen Çakır had started using it and urged me to use it, too. I didn’t earn a dime for the first eight months. We made ends meet with my wife’s teacher salary and thanks to the help of relatives. I was using my 30 years of experience in the business through the internet, I wasn’t actually doing anything new. I said I was going to do journalism; my broadcast was going to be free and no party was going to receive special support. At first only 37 people watched my broadcast, now I have more than 90 thousand viewers. I might not be making lots of money but I can make ends meet. We have completed the transition of the media.”

We evolved with our viewers

Ünsal Ünlü mentioned that they have become an alternative to mainstream media and the biggest thing they have been able to achieve is that opposed to TV channels is the necessity of being watched. Ünsal said:

“It’s a strange but useful example. We’re about to complete our fourth year and we have evolved with our viewers. In my show, I emphasize that everything except for profanity can be said. Everybody liked this, some go out of line but the viewers block them. The more we increase in numbers the more democratic we will become. Of course, this new form of media has its problems, you get people swearing and cursing but we have learned how to control this. We’re doing really well, we’re television itself now. We care for citizen journalism as well, everyone has something to say, we incorporate this with our own style.”