Our morning started with a lecture on Turkish history by the Bosporus Sea. Not too shabby if you ask me. However, since this is Istanbul, something amazing always happens. Elif called up an old friend of hers to see about getting some information on Turkish media for Sara. Within an hour a private tour had been arranged for us at ATV Television (we call that social capital in the field of Sociology). We all rushed back to the hotel so we could look a bit more appropriate, and we headed to the station.
Once there we met the Executive Editor, Cengiz Er, and he spent about twenty minutes of his time answering numerous questions about journalism in Turkey. In his office, five televisions run continuously behind us and his eyes subtlety scan over them every few minutes. On his desk are a large stack of papers from many different news sources, and his office is home to many books. He is a very nice man, but speaks no English. While translating for him Elif tells us “he is an old school journalist who didn’t need to know English.” Our time with him is short but valuable.
Next we met Daphne. Upon entering Daphne’s office she stands to greet us and shakes each of our hands. Her eyes make fierce contact with each of ours and immediately you can sense she is a very strong woman. Daphne’s English is perfect, and besides one or two words, her accent sounds like she could have been from the Midwest. She inquires about views on Turkey before and after our trip. We talk about how friendly and safe Turkey is but that we were surprised by it. What is most interesting during our conversation with Daphne is her work experience over twenty years in journalism. She told us that when she did daytime news for three months, many complaints were filed against her because she was not easy to understand. She clarified that her vocabulary is very extensive and too dense for a daytime Turkish viewer. Daphne also went on to discuss how much higher news ratings are in Turkey compared to the United States, and along with that, how much higher voter turnout is during elections. When it was almost time for her to go on air she thanked us for our time (this woman was incredibly polite), and we continued our tour.
Later in the tour we found ourselves in the news room during a developing story on the Syrian refugees and Angelina Jolie’s visit to the refugee camp. The pace at which the people worked was intense and they scrambled and shouted to pull up archived footage for the story. We watched them piece together an important story in just a matter of minutes. After the story was over we were introduced to the news anchor, she firmly shook our hands, and rushed off the set saying “I hope you have a great rest of your trip!”
The final anchor, whose name none of us can remember or pronounce, was the most relatable. She was young, spoke with a British accent, and was very sweet. She talked a lot about censorship, her views on different news organizations, and how she thinks Western news sources portray Turkish politics in a very negative light. What struck me most about her was how she quickly sat down close to me, and spoke as though she were college peer. In fact, I can’t remember a single time that she stopped smiling. Our conversation was short but packed full of information on Turkey (both serious and fun). At the end, she wrote down a list of cost friendly clubs and sent us on our way.
Overall, the experience was amazing. I suggest that if anyone truly wants to learn about free speech issues in any country, a news station is the place to be.
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