Media Pluralism in Turkey

How well does Turkey do with respect to safeguarding media diversity? Which are the greatest risks to media diversity. These 10 indicators provide an assessment of the situation.

Risk indicators to media pluralism

Media Audience Concentration

MEDIUM/HIGH

Media Market Concentration

NO DATA

Regulatory Safeguards: Media Ownership Concentration

MEDIUM

Cross-Media Ownership Concentration

HIGH

Regulatory Safeguards: Cross-media Ownership Concentration

MEDIUM

Ownership Transparency

MEDIUM

Regulatory Safeguards: Ownership Transparency

MEDIUM

(Political) Control Over Media Outlets and Distribution Networks

HIGH

(Political) Control Over Media Funding

HIGH

(Political) Control Over News Agencies

HIGH

Key Findings

Transparency

Information about media company owners and their shares can be found relatively easily in publicly accessible registries. However, when it came to finances, none of the media outlets responded to our questions...

Media Regulation

Turkey has varied legislations for radio and television enterprises and printed press. The legal framework provides specific rules for media service providers for concentration control, regulation of property and media transparency to some degree.

Concentration

This indicator, originally, assesses the concentration of ownership in the different sectors (across TV – Print – Radio – Online)

Political Affiliations

Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), the public broadcaster, and Anadolu Agency (AA), the state news agency, endorse the position of the government on almost any subject, carefully to avoiding controversial issues.

Business Interests

Among the shareholders of companies that own the top 40 media outlets, most are businessmen operatiing in sectors such as construction, energy, mining, tourism, telecommunications, banking and finance.

Measuring Audience

Like elsewhere, audience data is a crucial currency for the advertising sector in Turkey, which relies on certain research companies. Television channels are one of the most attractive platforms for advertising.

Shutdown Media

The criticism against the Turkish government's attempts to eliminate opposition media has been an ongoing issue during the rule of the AKP government and increased in the recent past.