The 'rags' to continue to bother President Erdo?an

I have bad news for President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. The guest of honor at the June 3 panel of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) was Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. In other words the chairman of the board of the New York Times, which Erdo?an called a ?rag.?

The newspaper has set a new goal; it will become a global newspaper instead of being just an American paper. In other words, the whole world will be reading much more of the paper?s criticisms of Erdo?an. 

In his speech, Sulzberger thanked WAN-IFRA for supporting the journalists who have lost their lives, are in danger or are under pressure. Since 1992, 1,127 journalists have been murdered around the world.

The number of journalists who have lost their lives during the last couple of years has exceeded the number of journalists who died in World War II. In addition, in many countries journalists? job are in jeopardy. 

In this year?s WAN-IFRA congress, countries where press freedom went backward were named one by one. I am ashamed to say that the discussion on Turkey took the longest time. Nearly all know very well the pressures on the Do?an Group and daily Milliyet. They know the situation of the Zaman group.

The president called those who participated in the Gezi events vandals. With rhetoric that is becoming ever more grievous, he called the New York Times a rag.

But it appears that the number of publishing institutions that he calls a ?rag? are more than he thinks.

Because WAN-IFRA, which has condemned his pressure on the media, has also announced its number of member institutions: 18,000 papers, 15,000 online sites, 3,000 companies, 80 regional and national journalism organizations all over the world.

As you might...