Monopolization of Media Ownership as a Challenge to the Turkish Television Broadcasting System

Akkor Gül A.

ANKARA AVRUPA CALISMALARI DERGISI-ANKARA REVIEW OF EUROPEAN STUDIES, cilt.10, sa.2, ss.22-44, 2011 (SSCI)

Özet

Since the 1990’s the television broadcasting system of Turkey has grown with a

remarkable impetus. However it has a number of major problems which threaten the

development of a healthy media landscape. This paper mainly focuses on the issue of

‘monopolization of media ownership’ which can be detrimental to pluralism. The study

which is no more than a status report aims to analyse both the development of Turkish

rules against ‘media concentration’, and the European Union’s policy on ‘Media

Concentration and Pluralism’. To examine the outcome of the amendments made to the

Turkish Media Law, it compared the ownership landscapes of 2004 and 2010. Since

Turkey is a candidate state, analysing the European Union’s attitude on media

ownership might give us the opportunity to see the possible future developments of the

Turkish Media Landscape.

Some of the findings are: The amended Turkish Media Law had not prevented

media concentration by 2010. The European Union is aware of the danger media

concentration might lead to, however, the Directives lack effective media concentration

legislation.