Bila takes helm as editor-in-chief at Hürriyet

Experienced journalist and columnist Fikret Bila has taken the helm as the editor-in-chief of Hürriyet, the largest daily newspaper in the country, from Sedat Ergin, who said he would return to writing columns because he was tired. 

"Hürriyet is a newspaper read by people from all walks of life," said Hürriyet Chairperson Vuslat Doğan Sabancı at a takeover ceremony held at the newspaper's headquarters in Istanbul on March 1.  

"We have no concern other than journalism. Our independence is our main assurance," she said, adding that Ergin managed the newspaper in difficult times and that Bila would take it a step further.

"The editorial policy of Hürriyet is well-established, as well as our professional ethics principles," Doğan Sabancı added. 

"Hürriyet will carry the flag of journalism … further under the leadership of Fikret Bila," Doğan Sabancı said, adding that "a new era is beginning." 

"This is a handover not only between two experienced journalists but two friends," Doğan Sabancı said. 

Ergin "is a person who undertook responsibility for two-and-a-half years probably during the hardest times for Hürriyet," she said, praising him for his investigative journalism work. 

"Bila has also been working as a journalist for 35 years, 25 of which has been with the Doğan Group," Doğan Sabancı said. 

Taking over the helm at Hürriyet "is a big honor," Bila said. 

"Hürriyet is a source of reference not for only its readers but also scientists, the culture world and diplomats. This is why it is the flagship of the Turkish press," he said.

Citing Frenchjournalist Hubert Beuve-Méry's theory of contact and distance, Bila emphasized journalists' need to keep their distance with the source...