(Washington, D.C.) — Last week, the Free Turkish Press (FTP)’s editor-in-chief, Yavuz Baydar, spoke at the International Journalism Festival (IJF) in Perugia about press freedom in Turkey and the work he is doing with FTP to promote independent media under authoritarian conditions.
On April 20, Mr. Baydar was featured on the panel “The growth of hybrid media in authoritarian countries,” where he described the major challenges facing exiled journalists, such as funding, keeping sources safe and anonymous, ideological polarization amongst journalists themselves, and above all the effect that Erdogan’s reign has had over independent journalism in Turkey: “He genetically modified Turkish media. He turned it upside down.”
The panel also featured Tinshui Yeung, independent journalist from Hong Kong, Sveta Dyndykina, co-director of a Berlin-based NGO that manages independent Russian and Azerbaijani news outlets. The panel and can be viewed in full here.
On April 21, Mr. Baydar was also invited to speak exclusively to the IJF for an interview, “Turkey at the crossroads,” in which he covers Erdogan’s takeover of the Turkish media, the existential choice facing Turkish voters in the upcoming elections, and the challenge for the average voter of gaining access to unbiased information.
The interview can be viewed in full here.
To view Mr. Baydar’s panel on hybrid media, please click here.
To read Mr. Baydar’s assessment of captured Turkish media, please click here.
To read the Free Turkish Press, please click here.
