FE ATUR E A RT ICLE S
Internet media on target
The situation of the media in Central and South-East Europe is deteriorating. Keno Verseck, an expert for this region, believes that German media companies bear co-responsibility for this development. by Keno Verseck
©©DW/B. Mumay
A high percentage of mainstream media in Turkey is owned by business groups with close ties to the government. But despite this enormous power, the government fails to set the agenda in Turkey. It fails to monopolize the information flow. The news portals on the Internet and social media have become the new centers of the news flow. The efforts have been made with really small budgets and by the force of brave journalists taking legal risks. The government is naturally aware of this and is thus targeting Internet media by imposing new restrictions. Requirements for launching a new internet television were also tightened. There are also legal attempts to restrict popular social media channels and gain users’ personal data.
Media in Central and South-East Europe: Danger level yellow
A woman holds a poster saying ″Freedom of the press cannot be silenced″ in Istanbul in June 2020
A failure after all In this desperate situation — in a country where journalists are arrested regularly and where the state tries to control every aspect of life. Is there still hope? I believe so. For, there are still people resisting and fighting for free information. Despite the pressure, there are still journalists taking the risks keeping up their work. And of course, there are lawyers defending them. Journalists have not given up writing and producing news despite pressure from the judiciary. This is a sign that the government has failed to reach its goal, that the project of controlling journalism has failed.
22 Weltzeit 2 | 2020
Protesters gather in Bratislava in 2018 to rally for media freedom after the murder of Journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová
