Changes ahead for Turkey’s media

AK Party supporters celebrate their landslide victory [AFP]

In this week’s global media show, The Listening Post, Stephen Cole reports on the changes ahead for Turkey’s media after the Islam based Justice and Development (AK) Party claim a landslide victory in the elections.

And how Hollywood’s big budget war movies are made with a little help from the Pentagon. Plus a reworking of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video Filipino jailbird style.

In this week’s News Divide, we go to Istanbul to find out what the future holds for Turkey’s media after a landslide victory for the AK Party.

On his election Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, promised to respect the secular constitution and continue pursuing Turkey’s bid for EU membership, which came as a relief to many in the mainstream media.

Abdulhamit Bilici, the deputy editor-in-chief of Zaman, a right wing Islamic newspaper, said: “The future of media in Turkey depends on Turkish democracy and Turkish economy. There are important elements to a media atmosphere that is more competitive and trustworthy.”

However, Turkey’s notorious article 301, which makes it a criminal offence to insult ‘Turkishness’, still stands in the way of press freedom and the country’s EU accession.

At least 65 people have been prosecuted under 301 including Hrant Dink, who was shot dead earlier this year. He was the editor of the Turkish Armenian newspaper Agos and was a fierce defender of minority rights.

The most significant change to Turkey’s media landscape following AKP’s re-election are the proposals to allow increased foreign investment.

Kanal D’s editor-in-chief Mehmet Ali Birand said: “It’s going to be a more international press. I’m very enthusiastic as far as Turkey’s future is concerned economically. As far as the media is concerned the past is long gone. It’s a new Turkey now.”

Also in the programme we look at what has been dubbed, the military entertainment complex – or ‘militainment’. As Hollywood prepares to give us its latest instalment of war movies, this time based on US adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, Salah Khadr investigates the close relationship between the Pentagon and the film industry.

In Newsbytes, we look at the other big media stories this week including the media storm surrounding the Israeli journalists that crept into Lebanon to report on the aftermath of the war, how Weekly World News, which brought us news of alien invasions and Elvis sightings has shut down its printing presses and found a new lease of life online and Endemol’s Big Donor Show that really has caused a big rise in organ donors.

Last but not least is our internet video of the week.

How do you get 1,500 inmates at a Filipino prison performing a perfectly choreographed Thriller routine? Watch here.

Watch this episode of The Listening Post here:

Part 1:

Part 2:

This episode of The Listening Post aired from 03 August 2007.

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