Despite the global nature of the climate crisis, there are very few journalists reporting on it in Turkey. And when they do, they often fail to convey the urgency of the problem.
“Turkey is severely lacking in experts in the field of climate change and policy among its correspondents and journalists. Specifically, there is a lack of dedicated climate journalists,” said Turkey Policy Coordinator, Climate Action Network. Ozlem Katusoz said.
Still, some Turkish journalists are dedicated to the beat, reporting on topics such as deforestation caused by coal mining, wildfires caused by climate change, and the impact of fossil fuel markets on public institutions.
These journalists, along with the works produced by Turkey’s cultural sector, are striving to report on the crisis and its many impacts while facing multiple challenges.
Challenges to environmental reporting
The warming of Turkey’s oceans due to climate change is an example of an issue that receives little coverage in Turkish media. Marine scientists say impacts such as the introduction of invasive pufferfish and lionfish pose major threats to marine ecosystems.
“Small communities don’t have enough education. It’s not easy to convince them. [that enforcement is critical]” said Zafer Kizilkaya, founding director of the Mediterranean Conservation Society and the first Turkish national to win the Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the Green Nobel.
Many journalists are reluctant to produce work that criticizes government environmental policies in an environment dominated by pro-government media. The country’s relatively small contribution to carbon emissions compared to the world’s major emitters such as the United States and China also reduces how seriously governments and industry players respond to coverage of climate issues. I’m letting you do it.
Turkey’s energy independence is often reduced to a national security issue even in mainstream politics. The country’s dependence on coal for its power grid has been debated in the national media as a matter of local politics, despite protests against large-scale deforestation in Akbelen in the Aegean region, amid a spate of environmental catastrophes. This is a problem.
In 2021, the Turkish government added “climate change” to the name of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, but this has done little to improve environmental goals, often paying lip service to environmental goals instead of action.
Environmental reporting in Türkiye today
As a result of these challenges, reporting on the long-term impacts of climate change emissions is virtually non-existent.
“Unfortunately, the lack of climate expertise among media personnel creates challenges when reporting news from a climate perspective in Turkey,” Katusoz said. “However, by working with our experienced communications colleagues and leveraging a variety of communication channels, both traditional and social media, we were able to bridge this gap.”
For example, Ember, a climate think tank, has the rare distinction of being respected by both industry participants and environmentalists for its authoritative reporting based on quantitative data collected and analyzed by a team of reputable researchers. enjoys a position. “Our approach was to find a trade-off between pessimism and optimism in our messages,” said Ufuk Alparslan, Enver’s Turkey regional leader.
In a recent study, Enver praised Turkey’s share of wind power compared to other countries, but criticized solar power for lagging behind. “This kind of messaging and framework works well in Turkey: energy independence, import savings, and making Turkey more independent from other countries,” Alparsyan continued. “However, if we only focus on environmental aspects such as 1.5 degrees, [Celsius] the goal [for global temperature increases or] People aren’t really interested in reducing emissions. ”
Some smaller alternative news organizations that cover climate news and related environmental issues have had some success in reporting.These include the environmentally friendly websites Yesil Gazete and Kaldurachi The magazines are socialist monthly publications that both cover protests against coal mining and the destruction of green spaces by megaprojects under Erdoğan’s regime. More mainstream news outlets, such as radio station Açük Rajo’s hard-hitting “Green” series and left-wing news publications like the daily Bilgün, have focused on issues such as Russian-owned nuclear power plants in Turkey and global warming. Reporting.
With foreign funding focused on Turkish-language reporting, local journalists are often limited in their efforts to attract international audiences. This leaves fewer funding options for independent English-language newsletters like Turkey recap and ANKA Review.
Some Turkish journalists, such as Selin Ugurtas, have turned to Substack for sustainability. Her project “Three Centuries on Low Fire” is also funded by the German social democratic platform Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung.
In other publications, environmental issues intersect with other pressing issues such as labor rights. Direnistisis a far-left platform focused on socio-economic issues, publishing daily reports on industrial projects and deforestation. Often blocked by government censorship. “Turkey lacks a common perspective,” says Tugen Gümushay, a journalist with Kardurac Magazine. “When it comes to environmental issues, Turkish socialists do not know what they have to do. The environment is a fundamental problem, but what we do about it and how What’s missing is how to do it.”
Art and environment report
One of the few remaining areas of independent journalism is in the local art world publishing industry. In e-magazines and digital publications, the voices of liberal civil society remain alive in the face of the authoritarian cultural revisionism promoted by her AKP government in Turkey.
“People who are concerned about environmental issues have begun to resist the government.” [during the Gezi Protests in 2013]. We have a good history of resistance,” said academic and art historian Flatt Arapole. “That’s why we have to raise questions about these issues, especially those companies that support art exhibitions while harming nature.” The Gezi Park protests in 2013 He pointed out that it started as an effort to protect green spaces.
However, art has a complex relationship with climate change. “Flathead, Sabanju, [and] “Rimak is just one example of a Turkish company that supports the arts and at the same time participates in projects that harm the environment,” Alapol said. In an article he wrote for the Turkish magazine Artdog, Alapol criticized Rimac Holding Chairman Ebru Ozdemir’s sponsorship of the arts, arguing that companies like Rimac are complicit in coal mining and deforestation while protecting the environment. He emphasized how he is a sponsor of principled art. In another article, Arapole discredited Shekelbank’s environmentally themed art exhibition while supporting an industry that harms the environment.
“Arts audiences and art lovers need to know what environmentally destructive companies are trying to achieve by sponsoring arts and cultural projects, and the potential problems they cause,” he said. Ta.
Ultimately, Gümshay added: We all say that. ”
Photo by Emre on Unsplash.
