Media Reacts to Police Control Attempt

A two-day educational seminar organized by the Turkish National Police to show journalists how to cover and report on terror-related developments has drawn fire for being an attempt to dictate security policies on the country's media and further curb the people's limited right to truthful information.

The November 6-7 seminar held at the Police Academy Headquarters in Ankara under the title "The Role of the Media in the Counter-Terrorist Combat" was designed particularly to address members of the media who could influence editorial and broadcasting policies.

Contemporary Journalists Association (CGD) Chairman Ahmet Abakay was among the first to react to the event saying the police would do better with a seminar on how they should treat journalists.

"Instead of explaining to journalists how they should file their news reports" Abakay said in an exclusive interview with bianet, it would be beneficial for them to hold a seminar on how members of the security forces should treat journalists".

Abakay said the need for the police to be educated in their handling of social incidents, the freedom to collect news and their interactions with journalists was pressing but added that he did not know who would be the proper authority to provide such education as he doubted the Contemporary Journalists Association would be taken serious.

The CDG chairman said that before anything, journalists had so many problems in fields which came into the jurisdiction of the police that as a priority, these needed to be addressed.

Abakay's remarks were backed by journalist and author Nevzat Bingol from the southeastern province of Diyarbakir who said the event "would become an initiative to prevent the reporting of the truth behind social incidents. They will inflict the greatest harm on this country. It is not possible not to be affected by this because the event has a psychological goal".

In an interview with bianet, Bingol said he hoped that at least the seminar was being conducted in accordance to the needs of the environment of peace that was recently spreading in the country. "I don't even want to think the opposite" he said. "The country needs peace at the moment. We expect the media to serve this peace and to avoid reporting or commenting in ways that would fan the conflict between societies. Otherwise, it will really become an initiative to restrict the society from being informed truthfully of developments".

Bingol said the police seminar, as opposed to bringing any benefit to the state, would serve only to delay the problems.

"Police want to show how to report"

The police seminar was protested on its first day, November 6, in front of the Ministry of Interior Affairs by Abakay and a group of journalists.

Flanked by journalists Ayse Karabat, Fevzi Argun, Ebru Donmez and a number of others, the CDG chairman at appeared at the door of Ministry where the group read a press statement saying "Other than legal censorship, the police are now in an attempt to teach journalists on how to write the news. The people's right to information is, with this leap, being squeezed into the limits of official information".

30 media institutions say yes

In a written invitation sent to the media, print, radio and television, the Police National Directorate specifically asked for the organizations to send persons with influence over editorial and publishing decisions to the event.

Names of those in the organization "preferably able to reflect the information they receive to the publishing/broadcasting policy" were requested and it has been reported that at least 30 Turkish media organizations responded positively.

The program of the seminar includes the topics of "Police and Media", "Why do people become terrorists?", "International relations and terrorism" and "The right to security, Terrorism, International Standards". (EO/KO/II/YE)