Turkish public are unaware of the hardships journalists face

When you are in it, you might sort of get used to it. That’s why sometimes it becomes important when someone holds up a mirror.

I had this sentiment when I came across the findings of the “media barometer,” a study conducted with the support of a German think tank, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

An expert group, made of five members of the media and five representatives of the relevant nongovernmental organizations, came together to evaluate the Turkish media by taking reference points set by the European Union and the United Nations.

They rated issues, such as the degree to which press freedom is under constitutional and legal guarantees, and the degree to which the press is independent, etc.

On constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom of the press, the expert group gave Turkey 2.5 out of 5. On diversity and independence of the media, it gave a mere 1.6.

Normally, I don’t really like these types of quantified evaluations. While they can provide a good tool to evaluate and understand the current state of affairs, sometimes they don’t properly reflect the situation. I find it bizarre, for instance, that Turkey ranks after countries like Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq or Libya on Reporters without Borders' press freedom index.

I am more interested with the specific hardships journalists face, which was reflected in the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung report. This is important because some readers in Turkey are not fully aware of these hardships. And there is one group that is not only ignorant of these hardships, but is also extremely angry with journalists.

Their anger is fueled by their frustration of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). They are angry that the AKP is winning consecutive...