Mass media in Turkey
[1] In addition, the companies are willing to use their influence to support their owners' wider business interests, including by trying to maintain friendly relations with the government.
In reaction to the failed coup d'état on 15 July 2016, over 150 media organisations, including newspapers, television and radio channels, news agencies, magazines and publishing houses, have been closed by the government of Turkey, and 160 journalists have been jailed.
Turkish consumers are the second-most media illiterate when compared to countries in Europe, leaving them especially vulnerable to fake news, according to a 2018 study.
[11] Media professionals in Turkey face job insecurity and lack of social security, being often forced to work without contract and outside the protection provided by the Law 212 on the rights of journalists.
[12] Some themes have long remained quasi-taboo in the Turkish media, including the role of the Army, the Cyprus issue and the rights of the Kurdish and Armenian minorities.
[14] More than two thirds of the media (national newspapers, radio and TV channels) are owned by few cross-media groups, whose activities expand in other economic sectors (tourism, finance, auto, construction and banking).
[16][17] The total number of readers of print media in Turkey is low, when compared to the big population of the country (95 newspapers per 1000 inhabitants).
[16] Major Turkish daily newspapers are published every day of the year, including Sundays, religious and secular public holidays.
The first movie exhibited in the Ottoman Empire was the Lumiere Brothers' 1895 film, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat, which was shown in Istanbul in 1896.
The first Turkish-made film was a documentary entitled Ayastefanos'taki Rus Abidesinin Yıkılışı (Demolition of the Russian Monument at San Stefano), directed by Fuat Uzkınay and completed in 1914.
The number of cinema spectator has risen since 2000, in parallel to economic growth, political liberalisation and improved quality of theatres.
Two Turkish film companies have been bought by foreign investors in 2007 (Cinemars by USA's Colony Capital and AFM by Eurasia Cinemas from Russia).
The Telecommunication Authority (now renamed Bilgi İletişim ve Teknolojileri Kurumu or BTK), while technically an independent organization, is still controlled by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
[27] While progress is being made (for example, local as well as long distance calls are now open to competition), the incumbent has so far managed in many areas to restrict access and protect its monopoly.
The incumbent has so far managed to prevent any operator from connecting its own fiber optic cable at local loop unbundling exchanges, though it is technically required to allow this.
Recently, the incumbent announced it is acquiring Invitel, one of only two other players in the inter-city capacity business, raising questions as to how the Turkish Competition Board will treat the acquisition.
The lack of progress by the BTK in ensuring a competitive playing field can be evidenced by the market share the incumbent still holds.
Cumhurbaşkanlığı Devlet Denetleme Kurulu) issued a highly critical report of the BTK in February 2010, listing 115 findings to be addressed.
In March 2012, TTNet and Superonline, which between themselves provide the bulk of Turkish broadband Internet access, have started applying "fair use" policies (known with the Turkish abbreviations AKK for "Adil Kullanım Koşulları" and AKN for "Adil Kullanım Noktası") that are overly restrictive in terms of the allowed download and upload quotas.
The only ISP in turkey that offers no fair-use policies is TurkNet All main newspapers and TV channels have internet websites, constantly updated.
Hostility from employers meant that some workplaces where there had been union organisation (including, for example, Tercüman, Günes, and the privately owned UBA news agency) were closed down.
Union organisation was not possible in newspapers (Star, Radikal, and others) nor in radio and television companies which began their publication and broadcasting lives later on.
[12] Media professionals in Turkey face job insecurity and lack of social security, being often forced to work without contract and outside the protection provided by the Law 212 on the rights of journalists.
TGS' influence has diminished since the 1990s, under pressure from the media owners, and today journalists are cautious about union membership, in order to avoid retaliation from employers.
It is tasked with assigning frequencies and issuing broadcasting permits and licenses to private companies, as well as monitoring their compliance with the legal framework.
It has the power to issue penalties for non-compliance, ranging from warnings to the suspension of broadcastings (after complaints, since 2002 it can suspend single programmes rather than only the whole channel).
RTÜK's claim of impartiality is undermined by its composition and nomination process, leading to strong risks of politicisation and control by the party in government.
The BBC noted that while some outlets are aligned with the AKP or are personally close to Erdogan, "most mainstream media outlets - such as TV news channels HaberTurk and NTV, and the major centrist daily Milliyet - are loth to irritate the government because their owners' business interests at times rely on government support.
According to a recent investigation by Bloomberg,[54] Erdogan forced a sale of the once independent daily Sabah to a consortium of businessmen led by his son-in-law.
These include the newspapers Zaman (formerly the highest-circulation paper in Turkey) and Taraf, Cihan News Agency, Samanyolu TV and numerous others.
