Acclaimed Journalist Fikret Bila in Bilkent

On November 29, journalist Fikret Bila, who is a columnist in daily Milliyet, came to Bilkent and gave a discussion talk on “the press” as a guest of Atatürkçü Düşünce Topluluğu.

In his introductory speech, Mr. Bila emphasized the importance of freedom of the press for its role in informing society and shaping public opinion. Mr. Bila criticized government-media relations in Turkey after 1980, which he said, depended on the commercial relations of media owners with the government. Mr. Bila depicted the press pre-1980 as being “the press of editorial independence,” and said that media owners did not have additional enterprises in sectors other than media. Mr. Bila defined 1980 as a turning point in the history of Turkish media, and stressed that the post-1980 era created an oligopoly situation in the media, which Mr. Bila described as “Lacking the necessary competition; the inspective function of the press was disrupted.” Mr. Bila also addressed the issue of media ethics, and suggested that the readers and the audience outline the quality of public broadcasts and newspapers. Mr. Bila also evaluated the rating-reader quality relationships of mainstream newspapers, and highlighted the fact that newspapers with a more educated reader group have lower ratings compared with newspapers with higher ratings ­ a claim which he supported with well-known examples.

After Mr. Bila’s speech, the talk continued with a question and answer session. Most questions were critical of the neutral stance of Turkish media, and Mr. Bila agreed that the media tended to lack credibility. Mr. Bila also said that state broadcasting should be free from government interference, and freedom of the press should be safeguarded, with laws introducing editorial independence. After the end of the discussion talk, Atatürkçü Düşünce Topluluğu Chairman Burak Çağlar presented Fikret Bila with a plaque, and said that the club activities will continue through the semester.

Fikret Bila, born in Zonguldak in 1958, earned his B.A. in Economics in 1979 from Gazi University’s Economics Department and his Ph.D. from the same university in 1986. Mr. Bila is the host of Ankara Kulisi on CNN Türk, and the Ankara representative of daily Milliyet.