All previous interviews (no. 1-19), for the record...
January 30, 2007
(Online) Interview #19: Selçuk Gültaşlı
Thanks to Mr. Demir for his introduction, Selçuk Gültaşlı replied my questions online. Mr. Gültaşlı is currently Brussels Representative of ZAMAN daily and is a well know correspondent in the field. I was recommended to get in touch with him by several of my interviewees....
January 29, 2007
Interview #18: Aslı Tunç
This had happened a while ago but i did not have time to post. So here it is. My 18th interview with Prof. Aslı Tunç...
January 19, 2007
Interview #17: Ergun Babahan
A relatively young but successful journalist. Mr. Babahan is the former chief editor of Sabah and currently a columnist in the same newspaper...
January 13, 2007
Interview #16: Erdal Şafak
I would like to thank Erdal Şafak, one of the major columnists in Sabah newspaper, who spared his time for the interview. His Sabah columns can be found here. Mr. Şafak has been a journalist for more than 30 years...
January 10, 2007
Interview #15: Esra Arsan
Esra Ersan has been a journalist and in the end she preferred to stay in the academy. She teaches journalism classes at Bilgi University and recently submitted her PhD in Communication School of Marmara University and became an assistant professor in our deparment. Her thesis topic is: EU and Journalism; The formation of EU Public Sphere. Cases of Greece and Hungary....
December 27, 2006
(Online) Interview #14: Emre Demir
I am grateful to Mr Demir, Strasbourg correspondent of Zaman daily, who accepted an online interview and who gave sincere answers. I met Mr. Demir through this blog and he promised me to help getting in touch with other Zaman correspondents in Europe...
December 14, 2006
Interview #13: Kürşat Bumin
Kürşat Bumin is a regular contributor to Yeni Şafak for more than 10 years and he has also been writing for the weekly news magazine, Nokta. He teaches history of Turkish press in Istanbul Bilgi University...Here is his short cv at the Bilgi site....
December 05, 2006
Interview #12: Hasan Cemal
A younger Hasan Cemal. I should say he hasn't changed much...
The interview took place at Mr. Cemal's office in Milliyet newspaper. The grandson of Ahmed Djemal (Cemal Paşa), a senior and notably pro-EU journalist and columnist. Chief editor of Cumhuriyet for years. He publishes journalistic books regularly and most of his books cause hot debates in the Turkish cultural and political life... Special thanks goes to Mr. Sedat Ergin and my dear friend Serkan Arman...
Today I tried the public bus to reach the newspaper building. It seems that the area where major newspapers are located is not an isolated place any more. Shantytownish developement goes hand in hand with business related developments. I guess the basic logic of moving away from the downtown loses its meaning the city now grasps once isolated districts like Bagcilar/Ikiteller....
December 04, 2006
Interview #11: David Barchard
And let the facts speak for themselves; here is a short bio of David Barchard:
- Educated Oxford University
- Banking correspondent of the Financial Times and previously the FT's and The Guardian's Ankara correspondent.
- Worked as a producer and presenter for the BBC World Service.
- Author of three books and a contributor to Euromoney, Middle East International and The Economist Intelligence Unit.
He is currently a regular contributor to Cornucopia, a magazine that deserves to have a look at least....
Like the 10th interviewee, my encounter with David totally depends on this blog. We have been in touch for a while since he has found me through this blog!
December 04, 2006
Interview #10: A young journalist from the Anadolu Agency
Her name will be anonymous although nothing secret was revealed. Still Anadolu Agency is an official institution...The Agency describes itself as
"Anadolu Agency (AA), set up on April 6th, 1920 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founder of the Modern Turkish Republic, is the biggest news agency of Turkey and one of the prominent wire services of the world. With its 28 regional offices within the country and 22 bureaus in foreign countries, AA instantly informs its subscribers about the developments in Turkey and in the world with around 700-800 news stories and around 200 photographs, daily......"
I had a relatively productive weekend in Ankara and this interview was certainly part of it. Before starting work here, my interviewee had also worked in mainstream media so she had a good understanding of Turkish media structure...
October 10, 2006
Interview #9: Zeynep Atikkan
I had the pleasure to talk to Mrs. Atikkan yesterday. She is not only a veteran journalist in general, but also a real expert journalist on the EU. I am grateful to Asli Tunc who introduced me to her. The interview took place at her home and Prof. Bulent Gultekin of Wharton School of Business also contributed to our discussion. Mrs Atikkan wrote for Hurriyet for many years until she had to live the newspaper a few years ago due to conglomerative reasons. She is getting ready to write a book on EU-TR relations and her recent publication on September 11 gets positive reactions from the critiques in Turkey.
p.s. This is the only photo I could find. I wish I had taken a photo myself...
August 10, 2006
Interview #8: Toktamis Ates
Photo credit goes to here.
Prof. Ates is a scholar in the History of Turkish Revolution and in Economics in Istanbul University and currently a regular columnist in Bugun daily. He is immensely known in Turkey as a prolific Kemalist thinker. I am grateful to him to accept my request in short notice. He has an office in Istanbul Bilgi University since he is a member of this university higher council of education (in fact I don't know how to translate Mutevelli Heyeti for sure...). The interview took place in that office in this afternoon. A short bio of him in Turkish can be found here.
August 03, 2006
Interview #7: Yavuz Baydar
I interviewed Yavuz Baydar, Sabah's ombudsman and a columnist in the New Anatolian. The interview took place in Sabah. The newspaper is located in Barbaros Bulvari, Besiktas. Some of my old readers might remember that I would conduct a short-term newsroom research in Sabah's newsroom last summer. But the change of chief editor had shattered my plans. Anyway, Mr. Baydar is quite well-known with his contributions to the institution of news ombudsmenship in Turkish media. I would like to thank for his kindness to accept my interview request during his vacation time...
July 05, 2006
Interview #2 - Part 3: Sedat Ergin
Mr. Ergin in an interview with Douglas Feith...
My longest and one of the most substantive interviews so far has finally been completed. The interview took place in his office in Milliyet on Saturday morning. My friend Serkan Arman, who in the first place mediated this interview to take place, accompanied me. I was already grateful to Mr. Ergin, chief editor of Milliyet, for such a long and good interview. But he also offered me to help to get in touch with some other chief editors. What can I say? He is a good man for sure....
May 04, 2006
Interview #6: Murat Belge
Just interviewed Murat Belge.
April 17, 2006
Interview #5: Haluk Şahin
(From left to right) Sedat �rsel, Haluk ��el, G�len, and Haluk Şahin. As can be seen, our professors are having a good time:)
This interview was done last week. Prof. Şahin spared his time for me to produce a cordial interview. He invited me to come back whenever I want. I wish all interviewees would be like this but I know this is only a fantasy of the ethnographer.
According to the original thesis plan, I have 95 interviews left to do. Well, it is better than nothing.
March 19, 2006
Interview #4: Nilg�n Cerrahoğlu
Ms. Cerrahoğlu interviews Daniel Cohn Bendit 6 years ago. I should state that the content of this interview (in Turkish) is still valid...
In a nice cafe that is close to the high school from where I graduated I interviewed Nilg�n Cerrahoğlu yesterday. As usual I got new leads to follow in addition to having a candid and informative interview content. I had also marked several cafes to hang out later. Despite my overwhelming sadness, yesterday seemed to be quite a productive day. Besides reading and uploading field notes, we released the 8th issue of Milli İstirahat, and I had a talk to a very old friend who is thinking of publishing a weekly news magazine. We had planned thousands of projects before but this seems to be most concrete one to realize... We will see...
March 14, 2006
Interview #3: Turgay Olcayto
Turgay Olcayto (L) in a panel in Istanbul University
Istanbul has been rainy for two days. It is cloudy and gray. My mood and the weather seem to be in positive correlation. However, there is still something soothing about it. While I was walking in Cağaloğlu under the rain this afternoon, I felt good. I had an appointment with Turgay Olcayto, General Secretary of Journalists' Association of Turkey (TGC), with whom I met last Friday. I will soon upload my notes from that panel since it was one of the most productive panels I ever attended during my fieldwork.
Mr. Olcayto had been too kind and invited me to come to the TGC Building to talk about the possible contacts he would recommend... That recommendation session turned into an interview. I asked if I could record what he said and before I realize I had started my third interview in the field... He was just too kind to help me find my way. After the meeting I would be quite satisfied...
TGC has a nice building in a very nice district. Cağaloğlu used to be the mecca of Turkish press and publishers. That had changed after conglomerations in 1980s but you can still find traces of a golden era. The building itself is located near the Iranian Counselate and Governorship of Istanbul. A thousand years ago, when I was a high school kid, I had watched a demonstration there where police treated protesters very harshly and I sat down in a corner and cried. It was the very first time I had seen a clash scene live between police and demonstrators. In fact I was supposed to be a demonstrator too but nobody would take a kid too seriously... Anyway, after a bit of nostalgia, I wandered around in the narrow back streets of Cağaloğlu after the interview and ended up in a publisher friend's newly opened and decorated office. During breaks, I continued to read Hasan Cemal's Cumhuriyeti �ok Sevmiştim and at night I watched Hostel. I am in the very beginning but I would recommend the former. Hasan Cemal's candid writing provides great ethnographic insights about newsroom life. However, I would not recommend the latter if you are in the same mood:) Despite the legends about me spread by Aylin, and despite a very successful interview and new leads for my interviewee quest I was still sad in the end....
March 11, 2006
Interview #2 - Part 2; Sedat Ergin
For a short bio of Mr. Ergin in Turkish click here.
This morning I had performed the second session of my interview with Mr. Ergin, Milliyet's chief editor. He asked me to do the last session in April. I am really grateful to him for sparing some time out of his busy schedule for me... And I am also grateful to my dear friend Serkan who organizes my trip to Milliyet and continually informs me about the Turkish press... I have more to tell from the last 24 hours of my life but now I have to rush to a concert!
February 19, 2006
Interview #2 Part 1: Sedat Ergin
Sedat Ergin. This picture is found in the net. I will take my own pictures next week...
My dear audience, I had a great relief yesterday. You could feel how I was stressed. Then in a state of relief, I had a nap at �etin's place and watched Transamerica at night and read in the middle and was happy to hear that Fenerbah�e, our arc-rival in soccer, lost first time this year. Mr. Ergin not only talked to me sincerely, he invited me to come and continue our interview next week at the same hour. He had told me he could spare only half an hour because of his busy schedule and I had said ok. But now it will be a longer one. As a research principle, I won't directly be quoting from his words but his input will probably effect my future analyses. My dear but really dear friend Serkan arranged the first meeting. He even gave me a ride to the newspaper building, which is a bit far away from the city center (if it has a center of course:- ).
Nurcan, my sister, occupies my computer and I need to finish up that network piece, so I cannot produce as much as I normally do here. Forgive me:) And forgive me also for late email replies, I will be back soon!
Interview #1 - Serkan Arman
Serkan is one of my dearest friends since my high school years. Our ways intersected even in Texas when he was doing his master degree there. He is currently an economy correspondent in Milliyet.
