Nature of Turkish local media
3. Nature of Turkish local media
The intensity of the political and economical agenda causes ineffective coverage of environmental problems in the national press. In finding solutions to environmental problems, governmental institutions have great executive power. NGOs and scientists producing solutions for environmental problems would drive these institutions to execute their powers in this direction. The studies from these circles need to be heard. Support by the community is essential. A movement having gained the support of the community would create public opinion and cause the government to take steps in the solution of environmental problems. When news reports about the environment are examined, an attitude almost always is seen that is in favor of investment. The national press in Turkey makes not only media investments, but it also operates in different areas. These areas of activity include the energy sector. Due to the involvement of the national media in the energy sector, which is one of the greatest polluters, news reports on this arena are insufficient. This necessitates local press to raise awareness of the solution to environmental problems.
Mass media is the best for illuminating the society it exists within. Social culture is recreated by means of mass media. Just like the media has freedom to produce news, society has the freedom to obtain information. The media’s role in the creation of public opinion is inescapable. Today, the media is accepted in modern societies as the fourth power after the executive, legislative and judicial powers. In modern democratic societies, media is presumed to have the duty of inspecting current political powers, political actors and other institutions. Concordantly, media is the most important factor in creating public opinion. It should be remembered that media set the agenda too when creating public opinion. By means of media, individuals are informed not only of the environment they live in, but also of all the environments they observe through media. As media has expanded its sphere of influence, areas that individuals are informed of have also expanded. Among the meaning of mass media, local media organizations have an important position. Local news cannot find the place it deserves in the nationwide press because of the intensive agenda. In Turkey, however, it could be said that local journalism has not developed in spite of its deep rooted past. Newspaper readership generally is based on the national press. Local administrations are the first step of democracy. The public has the right to be directly informed, through the local press, of the errors, successes and failures of those governing them. Local press can empower this right. Just as the local administrations are the first step and the core of democracy, the local press is the core of the press as a whole, and it has the duty of working for the healthy execution of democracy. We use the term “local media” for newspapers, periodicals, radios and TV channels that are in service in a certain area, city or town of a country. Previously, regional press, provincial press and Anatolian press were terms being used. The term local media, however, seems to be more comprehensive, since it expresses both written and electronic press. These concepts change as a result of the very fast changes in communication technologies (Demir, 2006, p. 69).
Journalist Faraç (2009) told his local press adventure: “Until 1970s when national newspapers could not be distributed adequately yet, the local press became an
element of oppression from time to time, created public opinion, integrated with public community and
From local to global: Can local journalism be a new approach to environmental awareness?
constituted their primary source of information. Increasing efficiency of color printing and distribution of newspapers with lots of woman photos into most out-of-the-way villages brought about problems for local press. Having inferior press techniques, pages devoid of photos and writings with improper Turkish, these newspapers began to lose power against national press with its colorful newspapers. While the local newspaper was losing its influence more and more, the concept of local reporter more active in public community and bureaucracy began to gain an increasing power. In such periods, the Anatolian press was caught into a tough situation between the local press and the local reporters of the national press”.
In Turkey, local newspapers have to try hard for survival. In some Anatolian cities or towns, there are press establishments that are set up only to take formal or informal ads. The main occupation of most of the local newspaper owners is printing. Local newspapers that are used as a force against the local political power are plenty. It is not the primary objective for some of the local newspapers to practice journalism or carry out the duty of investigating on behalf of the public. For economic reasons, it is difficult to keep a skilled and well-equipped labor force with a background of journalistic training at local newspapers. This situation reveals itself in news texts. The obligation of local newspapers in need of formal ads to comply with publication periods, and their economical and physical problems have forced them to find sidelines. Pages are filled with “copy-paste” news from the national press. This situation affects local journalism and it gets harder for environmental news to find its way into columns. Moreover, most local newspapers have to do routine printing jobs as well in order to survive (Faraç, 2009). Local press is the best source for information on local problems, it is the right hand of the local administration and it protects the rights of local community.
The local press can guard individuals against the globalization whirlpool, to some extent, by adding to the agenda and discussing all kinds of regional problems and their solutions that affect regional inhabitants, bridging the local administration and the central administration, watching and listening for the public and talking for the administration, local press actually produces material for the national press, carrying out a stimulating function and helping them in part. The local press is also called the provincial press or local press in literature. Their publication is not as extensive as the national press. Local newspapers are published daily, weekly and monthly, and they can determine their own periods. In order to be able to take formal ads, they must comply with their publication periods.
It should be remembered that local environmental problems concern not only the local but sometimes the general as well. A town’s garbage problem or marine or lake pollution in a coastal city may seem to concern only that particular region, but it actually affects the whole country. For instance, any pollution of the Antalya coasts bears not only on dwellers of Antalya but all Turkey. In this context, environmental news reports find room in local newspapers inevitably to trigger the national press. Local media enjoy the novelties and facilities brought by technology. Many local newspapers are published on the Internet too, and some local television establishments broadcast by satellite. Thus people who have left their native lands by migration can access the local news of places to which they have a sense of belonging. The news reports that cannot find room in the nationwide media thus gain importance by reaching their target audience over a wide geographical area. A local newspaper is actually a media organ that is heavily involved local events and makes an effort for regional development. It also has the duty of contributing to the protection of the national integrity. These newspapers bridge between the government and the citizen and they are an active ingredient in the inspection of public officials and civil servants. The biggest problem of the local press is the lack of concern. The reader prefers the national color newspaper to the local newspaper that once was his or her voice and ear for some period (Faraç, 2009).
From local to global: Can local journalism be a new approach to environmental awareness?
Not every event is newsworthy. Events must have certain characteristics to be evaluated as news. “Timeliness” is one of these characteristics. The news must answer the question of “when” about a given event. This is about the freshness of the news. Yesterday’s newspaper is an old newspaper. However, it must be remembered that people, by their nature, are concerned about their environs. The question of “when” adds importance to news. Famousness is another element of attraction. People get curious about events relating to the famous. Strange events also attract people and this adds to the newsworthiness of events. Besides “when” and “where”, the questions of “how” and “why” must absolutely be answered too. “Proximity” surely is one of the characteristics that is mostly taken into consideration. By their nature, people are more interested in happenings close to them. Forest fires, air pollution or local administration affairs in their own region are intriguing (Tokgöz, 1994, p. 141).