Turkish media's partisan coverage alarming for democracy

The Turkish media?s highly partisan coverage does not bode well for the ultimate fate of the country?s democracy, according to a leader political science scholar. Partisanship also affects views on censorship, says Ali Çarko?lu, adding that Turkey was at a crossroads in terms of the media and Internet freedom The polarization in the press as well as biased coverage of news has reached alarming levels for Turkish democracy, according to a scholar who recently released a survey on Internet and media freedoms. 

The results of the survey points to the fact that polarization reflects itself on the perception of censorship in the media and the Internet, said Professor Ali Çarko?lu from Koç University. 

?The opposition in Turkey is pulling the country toward a more liberal way and the incumbent and conservative parties are pulling Turkey toward the other way, toward perhaps a more Putinesque path,? he recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Tell us your observations based on the findings about freedoms in the press and the Internet.

It?s a very polarized media market ? so polarized that certain party voters read only a handful of newspapers. And among the readers of certain newspapers, you would only find a few of the expected parties. And we don?t have a mainstream media outlet. Not anymore. The media outlets are increasingly more polarized and they appeal to the margins or to specific groups of interest and political preference.

How is it different from the rest of the world? After all, a conservative in Europe prefers to read a daily known to be close to conservatives.

It?s very different. In the Turkish case, not only do we find this partisan concentration, but also people tell us that media outlets...