Media: In Pursuit of the Truth? International Conference on Media and Civilianization

Transcription

1 Media: In Pursuit of the Truth? International Conference on Media and Civilianization Istanbul Bilgi University, santralistanbul 25th October, Saturday am-06.30pm

2 We would like to thank all our participants and Prof. Ersin Erkan, Prof. Asl Tunç, Koray Özdil, Özge Genç, Ebru İlhan, Neşe Karahasan, Derya Sazak and Efe Kerem Sözeri for their kind help in organizing this conference.

3 The relations between media and political authorities, as well as between media and truth are among the thorniest questions in the world and in Turkey. The media certainly occupies a vital role in democratization processes, as a key actor in providing reliable and critical information to the citizenry. In numerous countries, the media is in a contested and tense relationship with the governments, and faces important -and at times- life threatening challenges while trying to bring to light social, political and other developments. Many media and rights organizations underline the fact that media professionals are arrested, tried in court, threatened, wounded or even killed in pursuing their professional duties. In that sense, the citizens' right to information and the media professionals' right to pursue and reflect news cannot simply be taken for granted. The media's relation with the truth is equally problematic as well. Access to news sources, just and balanced reporting, distinction between objective news stories and more engaged social and political commentaries are among the key points in heated debates in various countries. To complicate the matters even further, changing dynamics of media ownership, regulatory bodies, technological advances as well as the sprouting of internet-based alternative sources of information extend the established boundaries of classical audio-visual media and open up new and contested terrains. Such issues are among the interest areas of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) who had organized in May 1997 and December 2005, two international conferences entitled Media and Democracy and Democratizing the Security and the Role of the Media, respectively. (As a background to today's conference, we are providing the proceedings of both events as well). So, join us at the International Conference: Media: In Pursuit of the Truth? whereby we aim to continue on with our tradition of critical reflection and learned discussion on the role of the media.

4 In this conference, we aim to open up a democratic platform whereby we will generally discuss the role of the media in democratization process, the relations between the media and political authorities, as well as between the media and the truth. More specifically, we will try to answer a set of critical and highly complex and entangled questions: What is the role of the media, as a civilian actor, in monitoring and overseeing the security sector institutions? (The security sector includes the armed forces, the police, intelligence agencies and others, that is, those public institutions that need to provide security as a demand and right of the citizens). How could the media, then, as an agent of the civil society, help establish a culture of transparency and accountability? How could it ask tough -yet vital- questions in bringing to light jealously guarded security taboos and secrets? In helping empower an informed citizenry, what is the relationship of the media to many civilian or other actors, including the political authorities, the parliaments, the NGOs and security sector institutions? How do notions such as impartiality and objectivity play out in these dynamic and complex relations? Are these notions highly abstract precepts, or could they instead be transformed into practically applicable and ethical principles? How could we simultaneously learn from best or worst practices in the world and in Turkey and hence find common solutions to common problems? This conference will strive to find multi-stakeholder answers to all above questions with the participation of media professionals, experts and scholars. In this conference, we hope that the audience will also become an active participant. Together, we aim to put the first road signs to formulate innovative policy suggestions. Those suggestions will be incorporated into the Media Handbook in the Oversight of the Security Sector, a reference book prepared by TESEV with participation of media professionals, scholars and experts. A similar publication, the NGO Handbook in the Oversight of the Security Sector is also in the works and we hope to establish a dialogical and synergic relationship between the two.

5 Program Registration - Tea & Coffee Opening Speeches Dr. Can Paker, Chair, TESEV Executive Board Bettina Luise Rürup, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Resident Representative in Turkey Media: In Pursuit of the Truth? Impartiality, Objectivity and Transparency In Turkey, during the last few years we have witnessed important social and political developments and discussions. Claims of social and political polarization between secularist and Islamic-conservative camps seem to find echoes in a clustering and constellation of various media outlets along a pro- and anti-government divide. Media's positioning visà-vis the security institutions, and especially the longitudinal influence of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) into politics, also seem to be determined partly according to this basic matrix. The assassination of the editor-in-chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Hrant Dink in January 2007, TSK's electronicmemorandum against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in April 2007, cross-border operations into Northern Iraq in pursuit of the PKK, uncovering of a mysterious stash of ammunition in Ümraniye, the bomb attack against daily Cumhuriyet and the ongoing court case against the Ergenekon gang, a shadowy group purportedly bringing together former military officers, secularist/nationalist politicians, journalists and others, allegedly aiming to destabilize the country and pave way to a military coup d'état, are all signs of complex and contested relationship between the media, the political authorities and the security sector institutions. Within this context, claims of AKP's attempt to create a governmentfriendly media to counter the pro-establishment media and issues of the media's impartiality, transparency as well as its role in furthering an agenda of culture of transparency are among the most important topics. In this opening round of the conference, we will deal with above issues with the participation of some of the key personalities of the media in Turkey. Moderator & Discussant: Volkan Aytar, TESEV Speakers: Umur Talu, SABAH Mete Çubukçu, NTV Mustafa Karaalioğlu, STAR Ali Bayramoğlu, YENİ ŞAFAK İsmet Berkan, RADİKAL Yasemin Çongar, TARAF

6 Lunch Break Media's Role in Uncovering Security Secrets : Best Practices from the World Over There certainly is a general trend in the world away from state-centered security towards human security, or citizens' security. In this transformation, media's role is increasingly becoming important. Media, by employing critical and investigative journalism methods, is playing a key role in bringing to light the domain of the security which is still jealously guarded by the governments by use of state secrets or security taboos. If we remember that the USled invasion of Iraq was legitimized by the claims of Weapons of Mass Destruction, secret organizations dubbed as the Gladio were reportedly instituted amidst formal state security institutions in the post-second World War era in some European countries, and that governments and security forces continue to have authoritarian and even draconian powers in many transitional democracies and in conflict regions, media's role in challenging security mysteries becomes even more important. In this second round of discussions, we will concentrate on best media practices from the world over. Moderator & Discussant: Yavuz Baydar, SABAH Speakers: Andrei Soldatov, NOVAYA GAZETA / AGENTURA.RU, Moscow, Russia Richard Norton-Taylor, THE GUARDIAN, London, UK Nicolas Masson, GENEVA CENTRE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF ARMED FORCES (DCAF), Ramallah, Palestinian Territories Lotte Dahlmann, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SUPPORT, Copenhagen, Denmark Coffee Break Seeking News: What's the Price? In Turkey, reporting is a tough job rightly utter many media professionals. Reporting on security sector institutions perhaps carry an added risk, and even stigma. Indeed, numerous media professionals have been taken into custody, arrested, tried, jailed, wounded and even killed on duty. Reporters in the field, face not only such challenges, but also encounter professional problems such as weakness of social rights and not-so-friendly labor laws and administrative/corporate practices. Additionally, the security forces' accreditation mechanisms, reporters' relations with news sources (which may at times be a little too close ), and the reporter-editor relations are all sources of contention

7 and criticisms. Can we, then, talk about fences built against -and around- the media by the authorities? Could we even perhaps talk about internal fences, i.e. self-censorship mechanisms within the media itself? What are the prices to be paid in seeking news? In this third round of discussions, we try to answer above questions with the participation of experienced reporters and media professionals. Moderator & Discussant: Prof. Esra Arsan, İSTANBUL BİLGİ UNIVERSITY Speakers: Helin Şahin, STAR Nevzat Çiçek, TARAF Murat Gürgen, VATAN Gökçer Tahincioğlu, MİLLİYET Erkan Acar, ZAMAN İsmail Saymaz, RADİKAL Erol Önderoğlu, BİANET Media: Securitization or Democratization? Where to go from here? As Turkey progresses to become a more integral part of a democratizing globe, as well as a full member of the European Union (EU), what role could the media play? What are some of the road blocks for the media as an agent of change and a 'conduit' for the citizenry's right to information? And what are the ways to overcome those obstacles? Could the media in Turkey go beyond its internal polarizations and conflicts to establish itself as a civilian actor to help further an agenda or democratization and culture of transparency? How could we more widely discuss the world experience and academic works in communication studies? By addressing above questions and incorporating discussions in the previous rounds, this final round will address a critical point: Where could media go from here? Moderator & Discussant: Derya Sazak, MİLLİYET Speakers: Prof. Yasemin İnceoğlu, GALATASARAY UNIVERSITY Prof. Aslı Tunç, İSTANBUL BİLGİ UNIVERSITY Prof. Orhan Tekelioğlu, BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY Prof. Murat Belge, TARAF & İSTANBUL BİLGİ UNIVERSITY Reception Conference Rapporteur: Ayşe Çavdar, AKTÜEL * There will be Turkish-English simultaneous translation throughout the conference.

8 Participants Erkan Acar graduated from Ege (Aegean) University's Communications Faculty in In 1995 he started working as a reporter at daily Zaman's İzmir Regional Office. He moved to Istanbul in 1999 and continued working at Zaman where he is currently employed as defense and security reporter. Esra Arsan After completing her BA degree in journalism, she began her career as a journalist for Turkish mainstream print news media including daily Hürriyet and Milliyet and weekly Tempo and Aktüel, and then she moved to academia. She has been working as a lecturer in journalism at Istanbul Bilgi University and since 1998 she is particularly interested in the study of political communication and political journalism. Arsan also won the Reuters Foundation Journalism Fellowship Award in 2001, which enabled her to conduct research at the University of Oxford. She has contributed chapters to many books, has prepared several reports and has authored two books, EU and Journalism and Media Watch. She is also producer and host of a talk show program entitled Media Watch on an alternative TV channel, Hayat TV. Volkan Aytar is a Democratization Program Officer for Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). He holds a B.A. degree in Political Science (Bilkent University, Ankara) a M.A. degree in Sociology; a Certificate in Global Studies and works on his doctoral dissertation at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Between 1998 and 2002, he worked as the Assistant Editor of the Political Handbook of the World published in New York. Among his publications are: Democratic Oversight of the Security Sector: Turkey and the World (ed.) as part of DCAF-TESEV Book Series in Security Sector Studies, Caterers of the Consumed Metropolis: Ethnicized tourism and entertainment laborscapes in Istanbul in Jan Rath (ed.) Tourism, Ethnic Diversity and the City, 2006, Routledge; Metropol, 2005, L&M Press; and Gender: Feminism and Women's Studies, in Immanuel Wallerstein & Richard Lee (eds.) Overcoming the Two Cultures: Science versus the Humanities in the Modern World-System, 2004, Paradigm Press (with Ayşe Betül Çelik). He is also an advisor to Bahçeşehir University's Faculty of Communications where he taught sociology classes. His co-edited book (with Jan Rath) entitled Gateways to the Urban Economy: Ethnic Neighborhoods as Places of Leisure and Consumption will be published in Yavuz Baydar started his career in the Swedish Television and then worked at Show TV, BBC World, CNN Turk, TV8 and TRT. He continued his career in journalism in daily Yeni Yüzyıl as one of the founders. At daily Milliyet he worked as the readers' representative (ombudsman). Currently he is the ombudsman and a columnist in daily Sabah.

9 Ali Bayramoğlu During his academic career in Istanbul University and Marmara University, he concentrated specifically on military's political role, Islamic movements and sociology of the state. Bayramoğlu worked as a columnist in dailies Yeni Yüzyıl, Star, Yeni Binyıl and Sabah. He currently continues his columns in daily Yeni Şafak and teaches at Istanbul Kültür University. Murat Belge was among the founders of Halkın Dostları and Birikim journals and İletişim Publications. He contributed to Yeni Dergi, Yeni Gündem, Milliyet Sanat and Papirüs magazines, as well as dailies Cumhuriyet, Demokrat, Milliyet and Radikal. He currently teaches at Istanbul Bilgi University and writes columns for daily Taraf. İsmet Berkan worked as sports reporter, page secretary, and editor of the newspaper supplements in daily Cumhuriyet. He was the editor-in-chief of weekly Para and he was the editor of weekly Aktüel. Meanwhile, he wrote a column concerning media in daily Hürriyet. As a former columnist of daily Posta, Berkan was also among those journalists who initiated daily Radikal. At Radikal he worked as a columnist and Ankara representative. Since October 2000, he is the editor-in chief of Radikal. Ayşe Çavdar graduated from Ankara Üniversity Faculty of Communications, Department of Journalism. She received a Masters' degree in History from Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) University. She worked for dailies Yeni Şafak and Yeni Yüzyıl and magazines including Nokta, Express and Istanbul. She worked as an editor at Pusula (Compass) TV news program website and at the History Foundation. Currently she contributes to weekly Aktüel and teaches at Kadir Has University. Her co-edited book (with Ergün Meriç) entitled Cemil Meriç and the Children of this Land was published in Nevzat Çiçek. After attending Ahmet Yesevi University (Kazakhstan) and Anadolu University (Eskişehir), he studied at Istanbul Ticaret (Commerce) University's Media and Communications Studies Department. He received Aydın Doğan Youth in Communications Award. Following his intership at Kanal D TV channel, he started working at Haber Türk TV News Channel and weekly Nokta. When Nokta was shut down due to a news story on 1980 military coup d'état, he started working for daily Bugün. When Nokta was re-launched under the management of editor-in-chief Alper Görmüş, he went back to work for the weekly magazine. However, he had to leave Nokta once again when the magazine was shut down in 2007 [In 2007, Nokta published the so-called coup journals by the retired Commander of the Navy, Admiral Özden Örnek, detailing deep feelings of unease with the AKP, and the informal attempts by a hardliner

10 wing of the then (2004) General Staff to unseat the government. While a court case proved that the coup journals were indeed originated from Örnek's computer, Nokta purportedly went under informal pressures that compelled its owner to shut down the magazine]. After Nokta, he conducted a fieldwork in Southeastern Anatolia on Kurdish issue, Islamic sects and communities. He then joined daily Taraf where he currently works as the domestic news editor. Nevzat Çiçek's book entitled 'Pushi' and 'Sarık': Could Islam solve the Kurdish Problem? was published in Yasemin Çongar started her career in journalism in 1984 at ANKA News Agency. She also contributed to Yarın and Bilim ve Sanat magazines and started working at daily Cumhuriyet. In early 1990s, she worked for BBC in London and Strateji-Mori Research company. She was among the journalists who launched daily Yeni Yüzyıl. In 1995, she started working for daily Milliyet as Washington D.C. correspondent. In 2006, she hosted a monthly TV news program, Here is Washington at CNN Türk. Çongar is one of the founders of daily Taraf where she currently works as a Deputy Editor-in-Chief and columnist. Mete Çubukçu Since 1986, he worked at Karacan Publishing House and weekly Nokta. In 1992 he started working as a TV journalist and covered news in many crisis and conflict regions such as Afghanistan, Palestine, Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kosovo, Chechnya, Algeria, Lebanon and Southeastern Anatolia. Çubukçu's books include: Our Palestine (2002), Journalism under Fire (2005) and The Re-Occupation of the Middle East (2006). He is currently the News Editor at NTV and contributes to daily Birgün and monthly Birikim. Lotte Dahlmann, a journalist by training, completed her studies at the Danish School of Journalism in 1993 where she has later lectured on a number of occasions. Ms. Dahlmann's working experience covers a broad range of posts ranging from reporter at the foreign news desk of the national public broadcast news in Denmark (DR) and as sub-editor with responsibility for coverage of environmental issues and overseas development assistance issues at the engineering weekly, Denmark's largest magazine for science and engineering. For seven years, Ms. Dahlmann enjoyed an international career working as a communications advisor for United Nations Development Programme, serving in Jordan, Indonesia and as the country focal point for Denmark in UNDP's Nordic office in Copenhagen. Among her many tasks, she assisted the Secretary-General of the United nations, Kofi Annan during his visit to the Maldive Islands in the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster, January 2005.

11 Murat Gürgen graduated from Gazi University's (Ankara) Economic and Admistrative Sciences Faculty in He received an Investigative Journalism Scholarship from Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation (um:ag, set up in honor of slain investigative journalist and columnist Uğur Mumcu from daily Cumhuriyet who was assasinated in 1993). In 1997 he started working as a reporter (with special emphases on defence, Presidential and Prime Ministerial Offices) for daily Radikal. In March 2003, he started working for daily Star. Gürgen resigned from Star when the newspaper went under the control of TMSF (Savings Deposit Insurance Fund). [The owner of Star, Cem Uzan a media magnate and the leader of opposition Genç Party had gone into a political conflict with the ruling AKP and his holdings went bankrupt in Uzan's nearly entire assets went under the control of TMSF]. He then started working for daily Akşam. Since 2005 he works at daily Vatan's Ankara office as a defense reporter. Yasemin İnceoğlu Professor at University of Galatasaray-Faculty of Communications is a member of ILAD, UNESCO and American Biography Institute and she has participated at the media literacy conferences as a European Commission expert. A visiting scholar at Columbia University-School of Communications (1994) and Salzburg Seminar (2003), she is one of the founding members of the Media-Watch Platform in Turkey. She has presented several papers/articles at international and national conferences on media and war, disinformation, media and ethics. Her books include International Media, Media and Society, Media and Women Journalists, A Guide to Media and Children, and The Persuasion Process in Communications - with some Examples from Election Campaigns. Mustafa Karaalioğlu started his career as a reporter for daily Zaman as he was still studying at Gazi University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He was among the journalists who launched daily Yeni Şafak newspaper where he worked as a news coordinator, editor, Ankara representative, editor-in-chief and columnist. Since 2007, he works as the editorin-chief of daily Star and Kanal 24 TV. Nicolas Masson obtained a degree in Arabic language and culture at the French Institute for the Near East (IFPO). He holds a Masters' Degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS) in Geneva. He has conducted research on media in the Middle East, the roots of Islamic political thinking, post 9/11 detention and the role of confessional NGOs. He currently is head of the DCAF (Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces) media projects in the Palestinian

12 Territories. Prior to joining DCAF in 2008, Nicolas Masson worked as a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kuwait, Iraq and the United States ( ). Richard Norton-Taylor was educated at Oxford University and the College of Europe, Bruges. He wrote for the Washington Post, Newsweek, Financial Times, and The Economist before joining The Guardian in 1973 as the newspaper's first European correspondent based in Brussels. He returned to Britain in 1975 when he concentrated on fighting official secrecy and investigating decision-making in Whitehall, including the activities of the security and intelligence services. He has regularly contributed to BBC news and current affairs programmes. Since 1998, he had been The Guardian's security affairs editor. He won the Freedom of Information Campaign Award for journalism in With John McGrath, he wrote Half the Picture, an adaption of the Scott arms-to-iraq inquiry which was presented at the Tricyle Theatre, House of Commons, and on BBC2 and won a Freedom of Information Campaign and Time Out Drama Award in His other plays for the Tricycle include Nuremberg (1946), The Colour of Justice (1999), which received many awards; Justifying War (2004); Bloody Sunday (2005) which received a Sir Laurence Olivier award; and Called to Account (2007), a hearing on the circumstances and lawfulness of Tony Blair's action in leading Britain into the Iraq war. Erol Önderoğlu graduated from Istanbul University Department of Letters' French Language and Literature Department in Since 1996 he works as the Turkish correspondent of the Parisbased Reporters sans frontières-rsf (Reporters without Borders) and IPS Communications Foundation. Since 2000 he is also employed as the freedom of expression editor of the bianet.org (Independent Communications Network) website which is a project conducted by the IPS Communications Foundation. Can Paker is a graduate of Berlin Technical University. He completed his graduate studies in Yıldız Technical University (Istanbul), and Columbia University (New York). He began his professional career at Türk Henkel, serving at different positions in the same company and he recently retired from Türk Henkel as Chairman and Directorate General. He is currently the Chairman of TESEV Executive Board and serves on boards of various civil society organizations including Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation in Turkey, TÜSİAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association), İKSV (Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts). He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı University.

13 Bettina Luise Rürup has been trained as a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin, Universita di Urbino (Italy) and at the University of Hamburg where she graduated. Subsequently she took a postgraduate course at the Humboldt University Berlin (Centre for Advanced Training in Rural Development). She has been working as a researcher, trainer and consultant on a variety of issues related to democratic and social development, international politics and development cooperation - in Costa Rica, Tanzania, Chile, India and Germany. She has been publishing on topics such as labor relations, women's empowerment and other developmental issues. She has been working with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) for the last 16 years, since October 2005 as resident representative of FES in Turkey. İsmail Saymaz graduated from Marmara University's Faculty of Communications and currently pursues a M.A. degree on journalism. He worked as a reporter in Rize and Konya in numerous local newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio channels. He currently works as a reporter at daily Radikal and specializes in human rights, social movements, minorities and urban issues. In 2005 he was among the administrators of the Contemporary Journalists Association's (ÇGD) Istanbul Branch. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS). Derya Sazak has been working in daily Milliyet since In , during the first Gulf War, Sazak carried out the celebrated Saddam interviews with the former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit which brought him the award Journalist of the Year. In 2001, his book Saddam under the Shadow of September 11 was published by Doğan Publishing House. He currently is the ombudsman (readers' representative) of daily Milliyet. Andrei Soldatov is Novaya Gazeta s security correspondent and editor of Agentura.Ru. He joined Novaya Gazeta in Prior to joining Novaya Gazeta he was correspondent for the Segodnya newspaper, staff writer of Kompania journal, later worked for Izvestia, Versiya and Moscow News. In September 2000, he has launched with his colleagues the project Agentura.Ru. He covered Moscow theater hostage crisis in Dubrovka in 2002 and Beslan hostage crisis and subsequent siege in For Novaya Gazeta Soldatov covered Lebanon War in 2006 and tensions in West Bank and Gaza Strip. Soldatov continues to provide regular comments on terrorism and intelligence issues to many local and international media organizations, including radio Echo Moskvy, Vedomosti, Radio Free Europe and BBC.

14 Helin Şahin started working for daily Birgün as a reporter in 2004 while she was still studying at the Marmara University Faculty of Communications, Department of Journalism. She then worked at Anka News Agency, dailies Yeni Şafak and Taraf. She currently works at daily Star. Gökçer Tahincioğlu works at daily Milliyet since 1997 as a reporter. He received numerous awards including: Musa Anter Journalist of the Year Award, Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) Rafet Genç Award, ÇGD İzzet Kezer Special Award (daily Sabah reporter İzzet Kezer was killed in a cross-fire between security forces and street demonstrators in 1993 in Southeastern Anatolia) and Abdi İpekçi Journalist of the Year Award (daily Milliyet's editor-in-chief Abdi İpekçi was assassinated by right wing militant Mehmet Ali Ağca in 1979). He was awarded Turkish Journalists Association's (TGC) Freedom of Press Award after his famous news story on eavesdropping of all national electronic communications and phone conversations by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), Police and Gendarmerie intelligence departments. He has received a M.A. degree on Radio and Television Studies at Gazi University's (Ankara) Social Sciences Institute with his thesis entitled Freedom of Press before and after Military Coups. He currently specializes on judiciary institutions, human rights and democratization and he pursues a PhD degree in Radio and Television Studies at Ankara University's Social Sciences Institute. Umur Talu, started writing his column entitled Abyss ( Dipsiz Kuyu ) in 1994 at daily Milliyet. In 2001, he resigned from Milliyet, where he had been an editor and the editor-in-chief. He then worked at daily Star. Currently Talu is continuing his column at daily Sabah. Orhan Tekelioğlu received his B.A. degree in Sociology from the Middle East Technical University-METU (Ankara). He started his M.A. degree in Sociology at Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) University (Istanbul), and his doctorate from Oslo University Department of Sociology. He received a second PhD degree from METU's Department of Sociology. He worked at the Department of Political Science at Bilkent University (Ankara). He was a visiting professor at the Ohio State University. He became an Associate Professor in 2003 and a Full Professor in He was the founding Dean of the Faculty of Communications and the Chair of the Public Relations and Advertising Department at Izmir Ekonomi University. In 2008, he joined Bahçeşehir University's Faculty of Communications. Among his published works are: Sociology of Foucault, Pop Essays, Festschrift to Şerif Mardin (co-edited with Ahmet Öncü). He is a frequent contributor to daily newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines and other periodicals on media, popular and TV culture.

15 Aslı Tunç is an Associate Professor at the School of Communications at Istanbul Bilgi University and is currently serving as the Deputy-Dean of the Faculty and the Chair of the Media and Communication Systems Department. She received her Ph.D. on mass communications at Temple University in Philadelphia in She has numerous publications on the issues of democracy and media and social impacts of new media technologies in Turkey. One of her articles on the functions of political cartoonists in the democratization process in Turkey has been published in The International Journal for Communication Studies. She is also a regular contributor about domestic and global media and press freedom issues to the daily Referans. TESEV thanks the European Commission, Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung, Istanbul Bilgi University, Embassy of the United States Ankara, Open Society Institute-Turkey and TESEV High Advisory Board for their contributions that made this conference possible. This project is funded by the European Union. The content of this conference is the sole responsibility of TESEV and can in no way be taken to reflect the official views of the European Union and other supporting institutions. The text provided herein is for information purposes only and do not reflect the views of the participants or their institutions.

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