Insiders reveal how Erdogan tamed Turkey’s newsrooms

Source:Reuters Date:01Sep2022

Excellent job by Jonathan Spicer & colleagues to uncover The Turkish Big Brother

The episode illustrates how the Turkish mainstream media, once a more lively clash of ideas, has become a tight chain of command of government-approved headlines, front pages and topics of TV debate. Interviews with dozens of sources in the media, government officials and regulators portray an industry that has fallen in line with other formerly independent institutions that Erdogan has bent to his will, including, his critics say, the judiciary, military, central bank and large parts of the education system. Government pressure and media self-censorship share the blame, according to the people interviewed by Reuters.