Istanbul's Media Landscape

Istanbul, with its blend of cultures and easy access to all points East and West, is an ideal hub for journalists. While foreign correspondents have long been attracted to the city, local Turkish media is also in the process of getting a major facelift.

Like the country itself, straddling Europe and Asia, Turkey’s media industry is layered and captivating. With hundreds of media establishments, ranging from underground radio stations to heritage newspapers that trace their foundations to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish media landscape offers myriad viewpoints and political persuasions. Like the rapidly changing urban complexion of Istanbul, Turkey’s media is in the midst of systemic change that will permanently alter how news shapes the nation’s consciousness for generations to come.

Hop into a cab in Kasimpasa, the home of Turkish president and former Istanbul mayor Recep Tayyip Erodgan, and you will probably find a copy of the right-wing Yeni Safak tucked in the driver’s seat pocket. But if you happen to be in Moda on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, be sure not to mention the newspaper and prepare to find a copy of the Armenian bilingual weekly Agos instead. This split encapsulates Turkey’s – and especially Istanbul’s – diversity of media offerings.

“When I came to journalism we were still reading actual newspapers,” says Cem Erciyes, weekend supplement editor for Radikal. A typically dishevelled newspaper man, Erciyes is adapting to a transforming media environment from behind piling stacks of daily papers. “With the shifting political climate, increasing crackdown on journalists and lack of enthusiasm for print, the industry is completely different from when I started.” Radikal’s mix of reportage and centre-left commentary has shifted online save for a number of weekend supplements that appear in sister paper Hurriyet.