Turkish, Armenian journalists find similar problems in their respective news coverage

TODAYS ZAMAN/BURSA/TURKEY/18.10.2009. As the northwestern province of Bursa hosted a historic soccer match between the national soccer teams of Turkey and Armenia, journalists from the two countries used the opportunity to exchange ideas on the coverage of news related to each others’ countries. Researchers from both sides noted that there are the “same ills” and “similar problems” in the media of the two countries. One problem that the media in Turkey and Armenia suffer from is that they often follow the “official” agenda.

Armenian and Turkish media experts who met at a conference on Oct. 13-14 shared the results of their study “Armenian-Turkish Relations in the Armenian and Turkish Media,” completed through cooperation between the Eurasia Partnership Foundation based in Yerevan and the Global Political Trends Center (GPOT) based in İstanbul.

The survey of the Turkish press during September and April of 2006, 2007 and 2008 included five dailies — Hürriyet, Sabah, Radikal, Yeni Şafak and Zaman. The survey of the Armenian press included three dailies — Hayots Ashkhar, Aravot and Haykakan Zhamanak — and two news Web sites — PanARMENIAN.Net and A1plus.am — in the same time period.

While noting that most Turkish-Armenian stories were published in April, the period of the “Armenian issue” for the Turkish media, journalist and researcher Suren Deheryan said the Turkish newspapers that were surveyed published about 450 items with the keywords “Armenia” and “Armenian” while the Armenian media outlets that were surveyed published about 1,570 items with the keywords “Turkey” and “Turkish.”

Coverage in the Turkish and Armenian media consisted mostly of news articles, commentary and analysis. There was a notable absence of interviews since only 3.6 percent of the news items in the Turkish media were interviews.

“Their lack can signal two factors: either the media lacks the desire to tell the other side’s story or the actors in this conflict-laden issue are not willing to tell their own stories,” said journalist and researcher Ferhat Boratav, who studied the Turkish media. “Here, one has to keep in mind the unwillingness of the politicians to talk openly and sincerely on an issue that always incites negative reactions from a considerable part of the public.”

There is a similar tendency in the Armenian media.

“The coverage consisted mostly of news stories, about 79.2 percent; interviews, 7.6 percent; and commentary and analysis, 6.6 percent,” Deheryan said.

In the Turkish press, it was the political agenda, by 61 percent, which prompted news coverage while it was almost the same for the Armenian press.

“The press follows closely the political or official agenda, at the origin of most of the stories one finds a political act or announcement,” Boratav stated.

In most stories, the main actors and sources are politicians and officials and the main subjects of the stories covered are of a political or diplomatic nature, according to the research.

“Human interest stories as well as non-political actors or sources are noticeably absent,” Boratav added.

Another similarity between the coverage of the surveyed media outlets is that the stories are told in a one-sided fashion. In the Turkish press, Armenian sources and viewpoints reflecting the Armenian side are under-represented. In the Armenian press, Turkish sources and viewpoints reflecting the Turkish side are under-represented.

Boratav noted one radical change in the Turkish press after reviewing the 450 stories.

“The headlines, clichés and expressions that represented a general anti-Armenian bias in the Turkish media have mostly disappeared from the mainstream press,” he said, although these practices survive in marginal papers as they always target people working for reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey. In addition, certain clichés about Armenians are freely used in these publications,” Boratav said.

Deheryan said there are stereotypes, clichés and a negative tone toward Turkey in the Armenian media.

Journalists from both sides stressed that one way to overcome biases is to continue exchange programs for journalists from the two countries and evaluate the results.

By YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN

Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/