Turks Support Press Freedom, But….

By Jenny White

Turks support freedom of the media in principle, but are one of the few peoples around the world divided on whether the government should have the right to restrict media freedom in order to maintain political stability. Nearly three in four (74 percent) Turks say that freedom of the media is important and 60 percent believe that people should have the right to read whatever they want on the Internet, according to the survey, conducted in 20 countries by World Public Opinion.org at the University of Maryland and released yesterday.

What Impact Would Press Freedom Have on People Without It?

Freedom of the press is treasured in the United States. This freedom is a liberty not enjoyed by everyone in the world but deemed important enough to have an entire day devoted to it. The United Nations recognizes World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd.....

Cemil Çiçek controversy by EMRE USLU & ÖNDER AYTAÇ

Renowned journalist Fikret Bila recently conducted an interview with an unidentified minister, who according to speculation is very likely to have been Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek.

Charting interactivity at newspaper websites across Europe

By Kelley Vendeland

The Online Journalism Blog (OJB) has created the European News Interactivity Index, adapting Joanna Geary's analysis of interactivity on UK business news websites to newspapers across Europe.

Media… a fair match

By MUSTAFA KARAALİOĞLU, STAR

 There is great potential for change in the media, an area close to politics, in addition to the potential for change in the political sphere. The Çalık group took the first big step toward change in the media by acquiring the ownership of the Sabah-ATV Media Group.

The Al-Qaeda Media Machine

Source: Military Review

11 Layers of CitJ, according to blog, A FAITHful voice

By Carolyn Lo

A FAITHful voice blog details "The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism, a step-by-step approach in dealing with the changing landscape of journalism by integrating the professional with the amateur."

Should citizen journalists follow the rules of journalism?

By Carolyn Lo

Earlier this month, Mayhill Fowler, a citizen journalist, had reported comments made by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama, describing rural, white voters as "bitter," to Huffington Post's blog "Off the Bus." Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky believes there is a need for blogging rules and questions the ethics of citizen journalism, while Jeff Jarvis of the blog Buzzmachine has similar beliefs as Robert Niles that "nothing is off-the-record anymore" and that citizen journalists are now necessary.

Crisis in News::State of Investigative Reporting at Newspapers, Broadcasting

BERKELEY, CA — I am blogging live from the conference, “Crisis in News: Symposium on Investgative Reporting,” at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. It is perhaps the most beautiful day outside here, with glorious blue skies, but investigative journalists are like vampires, hiding out in dark spaces when it’s warm and sunny outside. So here we are in an auditorium talking about the very serious subject of what’s going to happen to investigative journalism with newspapers cutting so many jobs.

‘Jury is still out about crowdsourcing’

A panel on online journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism recently discussed what works online, citizen journalism and crowdsourcing. …

Future of journalism series: Financial Times - Dan Bogler

By Jean Yves Chainon

The Editors Weblog is running a series of exclusive interviews about the future of journalism with top editors at leading newspapers around the world. Here is the latest installment with Dan Bogler, Managing Editor of the Financial Times in the UK.

Press Roundup

President Abdullah Gül poses wearing a seatbelt for a campaign launched on Tuesday to minimize the number of deadly traffic accidents and raise the public's awareness of car safety measures.

Press Roundup

Seedlings in the grain fields of southeastern Turkey have withered due to a drought that has been severely affecting the region, leading to concern among the region’s farmers.

Turkish Press Scanner

MİLLİYET Council of State prevents big historical mistakeThe Council of State ordered to halt ongoing construction works to expand the Four Seasons Hotel in Istanbul's historic Sultanahment district due to an archaeological site that includes artifacts dating back to the Byzantine era, reported daily Milliyet yesterday. The decision said that the work undertaken by the hotel “unlawful” and “a clear ruling out of the very existence of the cultural heritage dating back to Ottoman, Byzantine and Roman times.” The Four Seasons Hotel must now stop the activities until the court process comes to an end. After daily Milliyet reported on the issue, the Council of State's Sixth

Turkish Press Scanner

ZAMAN Smugglers go hunting for butterflies Foreign researchers disguised as tourists have been smuggling butterflies in southeastern Anatolia, daily Zaman reported yesterday. Professor Dr. Ahmet Koçak, dean of the Science and Arts Department at Yüzüncü Yıl University, said the Lake Van basin was a rich area in terms of butterflies, sheltering more than 350,000 different species. Koçak said only 100,000 butterfly species have been identified according to studies conducted in the area since 2001. “Many researchers come here and collect butterfly and moth samples,” he said. “The recurrence of this phenomenon led to a decline in the butterfly population, even risking the exterminat

Turkish Press Scanner

Yeni Şafak Missile defense systems to be stationed in Istanbul, Ankara Turkey plans to station four long-range missile defense systems, two of which will be stationed in Istanbul and Ankara, daily Yeni Şafak reported yesterday. In an attempt to establish an effective air defense system against missile threats, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, Turkey's main procurement office, opened bids for air defense systems against mid- and long-range missiles. The long-range missile defense systems are expected to become active by 2010. Two systems are expected to be stationed in Istanbul and Ankara, while the other two are expected to be deployed according to necessity.

Press Roundup

Four young Palestinian siblings and their mother were killed after an Israeli shell struck a Palestinian home in the northern Gaza Strip early Monday.

Turkish Press Scanner

TAKVİM ‘Mini city' project for foreigners living in Turkey As part of the government's recent efforts to prepare new legislation regarding property sales to foreigners, a project to build residential units and holiday villages for foreigners in Turkish resort towns, put forward by Finance Minister Kemal Unakıtan, has gained momentum, daily Takvim reported yesterday. Unakıtan's project “The Spanish model” is based on the construction of “mini cities” in coastal areas of Turkey. Unakıtan has already approved the transfer of the land appropriated for the project to the Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ). Once the project is completed, the expected $20-million revenue from the sales of

Turkish Press Scanner

MİLLİYET 'Turks make better guinea pigs' Due to the low level of drugs and alcohol consumption in the country, foreign pharmaceutical companies choose Turks to be their test subjects, daily Milliyet resported yesterday. “We only use human test subjects for domestically produced drugs which are equivalent to medicine sold in pharmacies,” said Dr. Aydın Erenmemişoğlu, head of the Hakan Çetinsaya Experimental and Clinical Research Center in Erciyes University's medical department. It is the only center in Turkey to participate in clinical drug research with the permission of the Health Ministry. Tests are conducted on pain medication, antidepressants and antibiotics. Cancer

Turkish Press Scanner

Hürriyet AKP deputy: Party was wrong in lifting the headscarf ban The governing party's efforts to lift the headscarf ban and introduce constitutional changes on the issue were wrong,

Press Roundup

Clashes erupted between groups representing Deniz Baykal and his leadership rivals during the 32nd Republican People's Party (CHP) General Assembly on Saturday.