by Aslı Ceren Aslan
Activism for journalists in Turkey: Not a choice, a necessity
Many publications affiliated with mainstream media around the world define themselves using combinations of the words ‘real,’ ‘true,’ and ‘impartial.’ These definitions, despite minor nuances, all point to the same thing: ‘Trust us!’ If we take this call for trust at face value, we could say it is a marketing campaign aimed at increasing the audience of any published or visual media outlet. It is not difficult to speculate that media companies owned by major capitalists use such rhetoric driven by profit motives.
However, when we delve deeper into this demand, we can see that alongside the pursuit of profit, there lies the aim of imposing the hegemonic ideology on society. Mainstream media is one of the most important ideological tools of the dominant system, which maintains its continuity through the domination it exercises over those who do not fit into at least one of the categories of ‘rich-male-white-heterosexual.’
The hegemonic system carries out ideological perception operations on society through what we might call mainstream media. Examples of these perception operations include shaping consumer culture and producing news and content that supports polarisation policies based on religion, ethnic identity, gender identity and orientation. Polarisation policies play an important role in maintaining the hierarchical relationships within the system by dividing societies and preventing resistance against the hegemonic side, and mainstream media is one of the areas where these policies are reflected. On the other hand, while the hegemonic ideology is imposed on society through mainstream media controlled by states or large capitalists, the path is also opened for the ideological reproduction of society.
In this case, as you might expect, it is quite difficult to trust the claims of reality, accuracy and impartiality made by the mainstream media, which seeks the trust of society. Mainstream media organisations that claim to be impartial defend the hegemonic ideology and shape the reality and accuracy of events and facts accordingly. Looking at the news and content of mainstream media in Turkey will make it easier to understand the issue than explaining it in theoretical terms. Indeed, mainstream media in Turkey contains a wealth of content and news about how fundamental principles of journalism, such as ‘truth,’ ‘accuracy,’ ‘impartiality,’ and, in addition, ‘respect for human rights,’ are being violated.
Sexism, racism and disinformation in mainstream media in Turkey
Firstly, in order to understand the role of mainstream media in Turkey, I believe it is important to understand not only the more than 20 years of rule by President and AKP leader R.T. Erdoğan, but also the political context in which Turkey has found itself since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and how the media has been handled by the state. Although it is not possible to cover the entire history of the Turkish Republic in this article, if we briefly look at the values upon which the Turkish Republic was founded:
In Turkey, a country with many national identities, the concepts of a single language and nationality were important arguments in the founding of the republic. Although ‘secularism’ was also among these arguments, religion also played an important role within this monolithic understanding. Turkishness, the Turkish language, and the Sunni branch of Islam have been the driving forces behind the monolithic policies of the Turkish state since its establishment, deepening social polarisation.
From 1923 to the present day, Turkish history has been marked by massacres, oppression and assimilation policies targeting many national and ethnic identities such as Kurds, Armenians, Greeks and Syrians, as well as the Alevite faith. The mainstream media has played and continues to play an important role in the social acceptance of these policies and in social polarisation.
Today, news and content in mainstream media are particularly shaped by hate speech and discrimination against refugees, ethnic identities, women, and LGBT+ individuals.
Drawing on the ‘Hate Speech in the Media’ reports prepared by the Hrant Dink Foundation, established in memory of journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered in Turkey in 2007 as a result of mafia-state collaboration, we can examine some examples of hate speech and disinformation in mainstream media:
“We Opened Our Doors, We Took Care of Them, We Gave Them Bread, We Were Betrayed” (Sözcü newspaper, 3 July 2024)
The headline refers to the legal right to temporary protection status, but phrases such as “we took care of them, we gave them bread” create discriminatory rhetoric against Syrian refugees.
“Turkish Stance Against Greek Treachery” (Akşam newspaper, 18 September 2024)
The news article describes a banner unfurled by fans at a basketball game using the terms “treachery” and “immorality” and attributes the actions of a group to their Greek identity.
An article criticising TV series broadcast in Turkey stated, “Such productions serve to normalise a family-less society, just like the normalisation of LGBT.” (Yeni Şafak newspaper, December 2023)
“In Istanbul, “Great Family Gathering and Silent March” against LGBT terrorism” (Sabah newspaper, September 2023)
“The “Year of the Family” has sunk Western-admiring feminists!” (Yeni Akit newspaper, 16 May 2025)
The news article targeted feminist activists protesting President R.T. Erdoğan’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of the Family.
In addition, various news stories featuring women as victims or perpetrators in mainstream media contain gender-biased references. In both cases, news and content are produced by pointing out that women do not conform to social gender norms and roles.
Disinformation news stories in mainstream media that target ethnic identities, religious and belief groups, revolutionaries, socialists, and activists are also quite common. This situation legitimises many massacres and murders in Turkey.
Hrant Dink, who was killed in front of the Agos newspaper building in 2007 in a collaboration between gangs and the state, was targeted by mainstream media for years because of his news reports and articles on the Armenian Genocide.
On 2 July 1993, an hotel where writers, journalists and artists had gathered for the Pir Sultan Abdal festival, an important figure for Alevites, was set on fire by Islamist groups, killing 35 people. The reason for this massacre was attributed by the mainstream media to writer Aziz Nesin’s alleged “insult to religion” in a speech he gave at the festival, and Aziz Nesin was targeted instead of the real perpetrators of the massacre.
The press played a major role in the ‘5-6 September Events,’ which were a result of the ‘ethnic cleansing’ policies in Turkey. In these events, which led to the deportation of Greeks, Greek homes were looted, shops were burned, and Greek women in particular were subjected to sexual violence. The newspaper Istanbul Express, which published false reports that Greeks had bombed the home of Turkish Republic founder M. Kemal Atatürk in Thessaloniki, paved the way for these attacks.
In 2013, during the protests known as the ‘Gezi Uprising,’ which began in Istanbul and spread to many provinces across Turkey, the people took to the streets for months to protest against Erdoğan and the AKP’s policies. In the early days of the Gezi Uprising, the mainstream media ignored the protests and did not cover them in the news, but when the protests became widespread, they resorted to disinformation. The most well-known of these were reports that protesters had attacked a woman wearing a headscarf and that protesters had drunk alcohol in a mosque. These reports were proven to be false by numerous camera recordings.
Objective journalism – Impartial journalism
Although there are many examples of mainstream media in Turkey publishing hateful and disinformation-filled news stories, I believe it is important to note that there are also press and media organisations that fight against this and engage in rights-based journalism. In contrast to the distortions of the mainstream media and its propaganda of hegemonic ideology, there are also print and visual media organisations that defend the public’s right to know the truth and embrace journalistic principles in their content.
Before discussing the conditions of alternative media journalism in Turkey and its approach to news reporting, it is necessary to briefly touch upon the concept of “impartiality,” which is considered one of the principles of journalism. Choosing objective journalism rather than impartiality towards the mainstream, which produces the hegemonic ideology and leads to its reproduction by society, enables alternative media to function. But what is the fundamental difference between ‘impartiality’ and ‘objectivity’?
The principle of impartiality leads journalists to produce news and content about an event as it is. The event is reported from only one side, ignoring other sides, and analysis is avoided.
In objective journalism, however, not only one aspect of the event is covered, but different perspectives and sides are also addressed. On the other hand, the causes, consequences and possible effects of events are also questioned and analysed. This allows readers to better understand the issue and reach their own conclusions.
For example, when reporting on a new bill to be passed by parliament, it is impartial journalism to only report on the changes that the bill will bring about and convey the thoughts of government officials.
However, in addition to this, institutions and organisations representing the groups that will be affected by the bill can conduct interviews with these groups to present not only the government’s point of view but also the thoughts of the parties involved in the issue and analyse them. This is objective journalism.
Objective journalism provides the public with the facts, but it also gives the public the power to question by presenting and analysing the perspectives of the parties involved in the events.
Alternative media and journalism conditions in Turkey
In addition to embracing objective journalism, alternative media in Turkey also focuses on ethnic identity, religious and belief groups, LGBT+ and women’s rights issues on the basis of rights-based journalism. Alternative media, which advocates for the creation of a new language of news against the sexist and hate speech of mainstream media, and which gives voice to the marginalised and human rights violations that mainstream media ignores, aims to present the truth to society in Turkey.
Considering the state of press freedom in Turkey, it is not difficult to see how challenging the working conditions are for journalists working in alternative media. Journalists are trying to do their jobs amid increasingly heavy censorship policies with new laws being passed every day, as well as threats of detention and arrest. Since 2015, approximately 350 journalists have been arrested in Turkey, and upon their release, many have been forced to live in exile. R.T. Erdoğan’s statement that ‘they are not journalists, they are terrorists’ in response to international press organisations’ criticism of the arrests of journalists in Turkey clearly reveals the perspective of the ruling party and the president on alternative media. Not only during the AKP era, but throughout the history of the Turkish Republic, many journalists have been killed in unsolved murders, arrested, and exiled, and the ruling parties have shared the same perspective.
Is activist journalism right?
Under these conditions in Turkey, the question of whether ‘activist journalism is right’ is a frequently debated topic, given the professional solidarity shown by journalists towards each other and their struggle for freedom of thought, expression and the press.
When we evaluate the conditions mentioned above in Turkey, it is possible to interpret that journalism has been forced to transform into activism rather than being a choice. Journalists who are trying to do their job under pressure and threats are forced to fight not only for professional solidarity but also for freedom of thought, expression and the press. While there is a view in European countries where freedom of expression and the press exist that journalism is incompatible with activism, this view has no basis in reality in countries like Turkey. To make this clearer, it is important to note that in Turkey, journalists are forced to fight to uphold the principle of ‘objective journalism,’ one of the core principles of journalism.
Alternative media workers in Turkey organise protests and campaigns in solidarity with press freedom and imprisoned journalists. One notable example of this is the 2016 campaign called ‘Haber Nöbeti’ (News Watch). Organised by journalists from various alternative media organisations, this campaign aimed to show solidarity with alternative media workers who were detained for reporting on military operations in Kurdish provinces in Turkey at the time. As part of this campaign, many journalists from western Turkey travelled to the war zone to fill the void left by the detained journalists. The campaign was not only to show solidarity with the detained journalists, but also to convey objective news from the region to the public in response to the hate speech and disinformation in the mainstream media’s coverage of the war.
Along with many other similar examples, the solidarity practices and press freedom struggles of journalists in Turkey contribute to the struggle for democracy. As we go through days when right-wing populism is on the rise globally, and the number of news stories containing hatred or discrimination against refugees is increasing day by day, especially in Europe and the USA, it is important to discuss mainstream media journalism, the principles of journalism, and the relationship between activism and journalism.