Intellectuals and journalists who gathered at a workshop in Istanbul for a debate on how the media treats non-Muslims in society have said that the media has had a crucial role in imposing official ideology on society, Today’s Zaman reported.
“It is not that all negative perceptions in the media regarding non-Muslims have been determined by media bosses or chief editors. Everything started with the creation of a nationalist ideology back in the years when the Turkish Republic was established and when the nation-state was being formed,” said sociologist Ayhan Aktar at the two-day workshop, “Perception of non-Muslims in the Media,” on May 12-13 organized by the Medialog Platform of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV).
“The Turkish political system has created factory settings. There is an automatic reflex in the Turkish media in regards to how non-Muslims are going to be treated,” he said.
On the role of what the minority media can do in that regard, Ohannes Kılıçdağı, an academic and columnist at the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, said that news stories that are not included in the mainstream media can find a place in the minority media and increase the awareness of minorities' problems.
