Country Report of the Press Council of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

to the Third General Assembly of World Association of Press Councils (WAPC)

                                                                                              9 July 2009-Istanbul

            “The media in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has suffered from open and covered government intervention in the past two years, mainly because of the parliamentarian elections that took place in April 2009. The previous government wanted to use media to continue to be in power. Basically, they supported the friendly media financially causing unfair competition among media groups. Some media received huge donations up to millions of dollars; others were paid for publishing government advertisements and announcements, while the other publishers and TV and radio channels were struggling with financial difficulties.

            Aside from unfair government support, the media sector in TRNC in general is free, dynamic, and diversified. There are many independent newspapers, weekly and monthly publications, TV channels, radio stations, and news agencies. We can say that different views are expressed freely by different media groups. As is the case in many countries, radio broadcasting is on the rise in TRNC, too. More people listen to radio while they are driving, working in the fields, doing housework, eating, drinking, walking, trekking, etc. Following the trend, radio broadcasting is becoming more popular in TRNC at the expense of TV broadcasting and printed media. That development opened a new venue for media members in TRNC.

            Although the media is growing and people working for the media is increasing, the law regulating press and media is not enacted, yet. Kibris Turkish Press Council has been vigorously pursuing the related parties and the government to negotiate on the proposed draft. The Council has actively taken part in preparing the draft, and it will continue to work on it until it is accepted by the parliament. One success of the Council has been the enactment of the law organizing the working conditions and terms of the employees in media. The Law guarantees the rights of the media workers. It makes it compulsory for the media employer to make contracts with the employees stating the wages and salaries, hiring and firing terms, securing the social security payments, committing to pay the health benefits, etc. Unfortunately, due to high number of people seeking work in media, the employee does not have a strong bargaining position, so the Law is not widely implemented. This situation leads to the existence of “pen for sale” journalists in TRNC. Some journalists, in return for financial benefits, write news, or prepare programs to support certain groups’ interests. For example, a daily newspaper that is just started publishing receives 50,000 euro monthly from a known source. It is difficult to believe that one can have independent news or comments in this newspaper.

            The ethical code of conduct for the media members has been an important issue for the Kibris Turkish Press Council in the past year. We are planning to underline the importance of ethics in media through brochures and conferences in the coming year. Also, we believe that people should not be manipulated, nor misinformed through media. We will emphasize the responsibilities of media in shaping the public opinion and the right of the people to know the truth.

            One of the achievements of Kibris Turkish Press Council has been extending the number of the members to 120 institutions and journalists. This represents almost 50 percent of the TRNC media. Our target is to cover 60 percent of the media for the coming year. We aim at solving the problems in the media sector through mediation rather than through the courts which cause much financial and emotional damage for the media members. In the past, Kibris Turkish Press Council assumed the role of the negotiator in the conflicts between members. In all of the cases, the conflict was resolved in an amicable way, by one side apologizing. The application to the courts was withdrawn and hostilities were minimized. Our intermediary role also encouraged understanding and tolerance between the sides and improved social culture in TRNC.

            We believe that with the solidarity and support of our friends in WAPC, our mission towards a more ethical media, more job security for the media members, and more independent climate for media employees will be realized.”

Kibris Turkish Press Council