The Coalition for Ethical Journalism Turkey (CEJT) has warned that local media outlets in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir are under heavy political and economic pressures.

The CEJT met with local media representatives on Nov. 9 in the Kurdish-majority city to discuss the challenges in news reporting.
The Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), the Association of Journalists in Southeast (GGC) and the Free Journalists Initiative (ÖGİ) members, who take part in the coalition, presented their recent findings.

According to their reports, the fact that many media outlets were shut down by the government during the State of Emergency created a “monophonic” media landscape.

Other challenges for ethical journalism include the rising number of unemployed journalists, worsening conditions of labor exploitation in news outlets, problematic revenue models that are heavily influenced by official advertisement and increased censorship, as well as self-censorship.

Local journalists stressed in the meeting that as long as the current economic conditions continue, censorship mechanisms will keep succeeding in destroying loyalty to journalism’s basic values in the city of Diyarbakir, as well as the region.