Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan stated that the local press in Turkey has eroded due to the merger policy implemented by the Press Advertisement Agency (BİK) since 2012. He noted that local newspapers, dependent on official advertisement revenues, resorted to merging and closing down when they could not survive increasing costs.
Prof. Dr. İrvan said, “Within the framework of the policy to reduce newspapers by merging them, implemented in 2012, newspapers in 45 provincial centers and 3 districts have merged to date. The number of local newspapers, which was 467 before the mergers, decreased to 118.”
İrvan stated that having only one newspaper left in a city is not something to boast about.
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan, Head of the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Communication, Üsküdar Üniversitesi, evaluated the issue of local newspapers closing down in detail.
Local press is eroding!
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan stated that the policies implemented by the Press Advertisement Agency (BİK) under the name of 'merger' have led to a decrease in the number of local newspapers published in 45 provincial centers and 3 districts, saying, “Within the framework of the policy to reduce newspapers by merging them, implemented by the Press Advertisement Agency in 2012 with the hope of remedying the problems of local media, newspapers in 45 provincial centers and 3 districts have merged to date. The number of local newspapers, which was 467 before the mergers, decreased to 118.”
Many journalists became unemployed!
Reminding that local newspapers struggling with economic difficulties faced BİK's merger imposition, Prof. Dr. İrvan stated, “This situation negatively affected journalist employment, causing many journalists to become unemployed.”
Referring to the words of journalist Hüseyin Arslan, who said, “The profession of journalism is facing the risk of extinction and complete disappearance,” Prof. Dr. İrvan pointed out that BİK's advertisement policies have turned into a commercial system under the name of 'tender journalism'.
The polyphony of local democracy was restricted
Giving striking examples on a provincial basis, Prof. Dr. İrvan reported that the number of newspapers in Afyonkarahisar decreased from 21 to 2, in Amasya from 5 to 1, and in Ardahan from 15 to 2. Stating that the number of newspapers is rapidly decreasing even in large cities like Ankara, Antalya, and Balıkesir, İrvan emphasized that in Bartın, 5 newspapers decreased to 1, in Bayburt, 9 newspapers to 1, and in Bingöl, 9 newspapers also decreased to 1, and this situation restricts the polyphony of local democracy and the public's right to information.
Newspapers were called to 'merge'
Prof. Dr. İrvan also drew attention to the Press Advertisement Agency's merger pressures, stating that although the institution's executives do not accept the word 'pressure,' news from local media shows the exact opposite. Prof. Dr. İrvan quoted a newspaper owner from Malatya saying, “They showed death and made us accept malaria. They threatened us indirectly. They imposed the merger on us.” He also reminded that newspapers in cities like Edirne and Adana were explicitly called to 'merge'.
People's right to information was restricted
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan concluded his words by calling for a re-evaluation of the future of the local press in Turkey and BİK's policies:
“When will we see that reducing the number by forcing newspapers to merge is not a correct media policy? The policy of merging newspapers resulted in the disappearance of many newspapers, but it did not produce any positive results; neither did newspaper circulations increase, nor did higher quality newspapers emerge. On the contrary, many journalists became unemployed. The decrease in newspaper diversity also leads to the flawed functioning of local democracy and the restriction of the public's right to information. Having only one newspaper left in a city is probably not something to boast about.”