March 11, 2016 6:03
pm
Turkish
TV station aims to switch western views
Slick English-language
channel at forefront of efforts by President Erdogan to alter
perceptions
Mehul Srivastava in
Istanbul and Henry Mance in London
When police stormed
Turkey’s top-selling Zaman newspaper last week, global news
organisations expressed outrage at what they said was an assault on
press freedom.
But one
English-language outlet took a more cautious view. “Turkish court
appoints trustees for Istanbul-based newspaper,” read the headline
on TRT World.
The fledgling TV
news channel, under the wing of the state-run Turkish Radio and
Television Corporation, is at the forefront of an ambitious effort by
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, to shape how the country
is viewed around the world.
With sleek graphics,
English-speaking foreign journalists and funded from the deep pockets
of the taxpayer, it follows the blueprint of Qatar’s Al Jazeera and
Russia’s RT, formerly Russia Today.
Yet the goals of
those running the station are grander. Carlos van Meek, director of
news, says that when he was hired, his bosses told him they wanted a
channel “that would rival the likes of CNN and the BBC”.
“There has [for
many years] been a need for a broadcast channel delivering the events
to the world from a different perspective, which presents Turkey’s
own viewpoint,” says Ibrahim Eren, head of broadcasting for TRT.
Ankara’s growing influence, not least in Syria and the migrant
crisis, had created the need for a station showing non-Turkish
viewers “how we see the world”.
Mr Erdogan’s
government has long been frustrated with how its actions play out
internationally, railing against foreign journalists whom he views as
an extension of western influence over Turkish internal affairs.
He has delivered
public insults to reporters from CNN, the Economist and the BBC,
notably when the 2013 Gezi Park protests provided media outlets with
gripping images of tear-gassed protesters who Mr Erdogan dismissed as
terrorists and looters.
The contrast with
the rest of Turkey’s media scene is jarring. While TRT World has
hired expensive expatriate talent and technical staff, other Turkish
journalists have been jailed, their newspapers closed and their
careers ended over material the government deems offensive. In 2015
Reporters without Borders ranked Turkey 149th in the world for press
freedom, behind South Sudan and Palestine.
Erdogan rules by
division — and Turkey pays a price
Supporters of
Turkey's Justice and Development Party celebrate in Istanbul after
the first results in the country's general election
President has used
and abused state power to dominate media and purge dissident voices
Two people involved
in planning at TRT World, which is operational after a soft launch
last year, said they had yet to receive specific instructions on how
to cover Turkish news.
But most of the
foreign employees contacted by the FT privately expressed concern
they had signed up to a project that would become halfway between
state propaganda and an expression of Turkish soft power. “If we’re
not careful, we end up a joke,” says a senior news staffer who is
already considering quitting.
Mr van Meek, a
veteran of Fox News and Al Jazeera, rejects such criticism and says
the channel’s coverage will be a measure of its independence:
“Watch the content. I think we are fair and objective and
credible.”
But he insists there
is a need to “get the Turkish side of the story out there. I do
think Turkey and its viewpoint have been under-represented and
misrepresented.”
Of the Kurdistan
Workers’ party, which has fought a four-decade war in Turkey for
self-rule, he says: “To us, the PKK is a terrorist organisation. It
just is.”
Inside TRT World’s
Istanbul newsroom, staffers monitor the news and handle live
broadcasts that are available online and as part of Turkish cable
bundles. Yet almost nobody outside the country can yet watch it on
television.
As a reminder of the
sort of news on which a channel in the region must focus, pieces of
paper stuck to the wall remind reporters that “air strikes” are
two words, not one.
The benefits of
being under the public broadcaster’s umbrella are apparent. During
two recent high-profile terrorism incidents, TRT World was able to
break a nationwide ban and broadcast live from the scene, while
others had to rely on studio interviews.
Turkish journalists
accused of espionage
Recep Tayyip
Erdogan...Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting
of artists and writers at his palace in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday,
Dec. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Yasin Bulbul, Presidential Press Service,
Pool )
Editors face life in
jail if convicted of terror offences in Erdogan purge of dissent
Financially, it has
been able to recruit widely. TRT World has not disclosed its budget —
Mr Eren says it will be made public shortly — but its headcount has
swelled to at least 220 in Istanbul, with additional centers in
London, Singapore and Washington. Mr van Meek says hiring in Istanbul
is about 70 per cent complete.
Industry analysts
estimate annual running costs at £50m-£100m, rising further if the
channel develops a large network of correspondents. RT’s annual
budget is about £125m.
“To be really
credible, you need to have boots [reporters] on the ground,” says
an international news executive. “It’s a very expensive
undertaking.”
But if, as Mr
Erdogan often declares, Turkey needs an unbiased source of TV news,
why invest such resources in a foreign-language channel that few in
the country can watch?
“If you had $100m
to improve the state of Turkish media, would you spend it on a
glasshouse in the middle of Istanbul?” says Andrew Finkel, founder
of P24, an organisation that aims to strengthen independent reporting
in Turkey. “Why are public funds being used this way?”
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