Journalism in Türkiye: Lifelong activism

Journalists’ Union of Türkiye (TGS) has recently published a new report titled “Journalism in Turkey: Perception and Profile Survey,” which included striking results that most journalists receive low salaries, work 45 hours or more per week under serious pressure and without many social rights.

That got me thinking about the term “activist journalist” which is a concept that I often hear especially when I meet with young journalists and always object to.

Yes, critical journalism in the universal sense contains a certain amount of activism because it is an endless search for truth. However, journalism is not and should not be a method of activism.

Journalism cannot be activism because activism requires engagement, it involves partiality. This can blind the journalist, who is supposed to remain impartial and distant, while doing his/her job, and prevent him/her from seeing the whole truth, analyzing the issues and looking rationally. I believe we have seen examples of this in the Turkish media during and after the recent general and presidential elections.

However, journalism is a profession just like medicine, engineering, teaching, tailoring. Yes, we like to ascribe sanctity to our profession, we secretly put it in a different place from other professions, but in the end it is a profession. If you manage to do it properly from the first day to the last, it is a good profession.

Journalism: “We must be crazy”

Have you ever heard of a physician who worked for five years without any social security? Or someone who sews skirts and shortens trouser legs for free just for the happiness of being able to work as a tailor? Yet our profession is full of such examples.

Why?

Because it is deemed “sacred,” “special,” if necessary it can be practiced for free…

At the beginning of the article, I was very straightforward in saying “journalism is not activism!”, but looking at the results of the “Journalism in Turkey: Perception and Profile” survey commissioned by the TGS, to consider those who practice this job as activists seems to be the most logical option. There is another possibility, and that is that we have gone “mad”.

Let me list the data and you can decide which one it is:

• Almost one in every two journalists say they feel political pressure while practicing their profession
• 42.8 percent say they have been subjected to censorship
• Only one out of every three journalists surveyed has a press card
• The majority of journalists work 45 hours or more per week
• Most of them cannot fully use their annual leave rights. The rate of those working more than 45 hours a week and not being able to fully use their annual leave rights is higher among national media employees and journalists working in metropolitan cities

Low salaries, mobbing, health problems

• The majority of journalists receive low salaries and say that their salaries are insufficient to keep up with inflation
• Only 28.6 percent of journalists are paid for overtime work
• Stress, anxiety and physical hardship lead to various occupational diseases. The most common health problems are visual impairment (39.6 percent), lumbar/neck hernia (26.4 percent) and joint pain (24.4 percent). Female journalists and journalists working in national media experience these problems at higher rates than other groups
• Journalists cannot allocate time for social life and cannot separate their work life from their social life. Burnout Syndrome is another important problem faced by journalists
• 36.2 percent of journalists say they have been subjected to mobbing at least once in their working life. Female journalists, young journalists, journalists with a bachelor’s degree or higher, and journalists working in metropolitan cities are more likely than other groups to report being subjected to mobbing

Assault, battery, bans

• One out of every four journalists is considering changing their profession
• They state that they face many difficulties in the process of reporting, such as being sued, having access to their news blocked, being physically assaulted, and having their digital materials confiscated
• It is also observed that female journalists face more obstacles than male journalists and that journalists working in national media are more likely to be beaten and have their digital materials confiscated than those working in local media

Isn’t it “activism” to persist in a profession that condemns you to a lifelong “student life” with pocket-money salaries and a high probability of being detained, beaten by law enforcement, tried and imprisoned?