Pressure on journalists is increasing. Many journalists are either being detained or arrested due to their news reporting and social media posts. Most recently, BirGün reporter İsmail Arı was arrested and sent to Sincan Prison. So, what position should labor and professional organizations take in the face of pressure on journalism and journalists?
This week’s guest on the program Çetele, hosted by Onur Öncü and published on the MLSA YouTube channel, was Turgut Dedeoğlu, chair of the DİSK Basın-İş union. Dedeoğlu said that media workers have no choice but to struggle against the pressure exerted by the government through the media.
Dedeoğlu also pointed out that not only journalists working in national media but also those in local media face serious judicial pressure. “Of the five journalists arrested in March, four work in local newspapers. Two journalists working at the local level were arrested on the charge of ‘publicly disseminating misleading information’ because they reported on a suspicious suicide,” he said.
Dedeoğlu also emphasized that one of the biggest obstacles facing journalists is the problem of organization. “When we try to organize in big so-called ‘opposition’ channels, they tell us, ‘We cannot be unionized. And our advice to friends who want to unionize is this: Bread or organization?’” he said.
Medya ve Hukuk Çalışmaları Derneği (MLSA) haber alma hakkı, ifade özgürlüğü ve basın özgürlüğü alanlarında faaliyet yürüten bir sivil toplum kuruluşudur. Derneğimiz başta gazeteciler olmak üzere mesleki faaliyetleri sebebiyle yargılanan kişilere hukuki destek vermektedir.
