Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 3 2008
Terrorism was the hottest news item last year
Separatist terror was the top story for the media in 2007 as reports
covering terrorism were the highest in number of all reported news
stories, according to a report by the Media Monitoring Center (MTM)
which regularly monitors more than 1,700 publications, broadcasters,
radios, newspapers and periodicals every month.
Terrorism, which was the top media focus last year, was covered in
270,535 news stories and 4,678 hours of TV broadcasting throughout
the year, the MTM report showed. In other words, an average TV
station in Turkey broadcast 195 full days of terrorism-related
stories.
The number of European Union-related news reports in the media fell
significantly — by 9 percent — in 2007 compared to the previous
year. EU news was covered in 237,322 stories last year. Also, 443
fewer hours were devoted by TV broadcasters to EU stories in 2007.
The murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, which occurred
in early 2007, had a strong resonance in the media for the rest of
the year. According to MTM’s 2007 media highlights report, the Dink
murder was the subject of a total of 57,611 news reports.
Global warming and climate change were the fourth most covered news
items in the media, with 44,581 stories published about the
environmental disaster.
Secularism, discussions on the headscarf ban in universities and
fears of a military takeover of the Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) government were the most frequently debated issues of last
year in the news media.
In technology, news about the popular networking site Facebook has
been attracting IT-related newsmakers since early November.
The political party that everybody talked about most was the AK
Party, as was the case in the previous year. A total of 288,924 news
stories were published on the AK Party, followed by 207,730 stories
on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which was in
turn followed by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), elected to
Parliament in the July 22 elections last year and covered in 88,418
stories. The Democratic Society Party (DTP) was subject of 59,528
stories while the Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) was the subject of
48,557 reports.
The MTM noted that the number of news stories about the AK Party rose
last year by 3.5 times in comparison to 2006. Also, the number of
news stories on the CHP increased by 2.5 times in comparison to the
previous year. About 2,868 hours of broadcasting centered on the AK
Party last year.
The report noted that interest in the DTP rose after the party was
elected to Parliament in July and that the number of news stories
about the DTP published since then was nose-to-nose with the number
of those on the AK Party.
Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoðan, who was covered in a total of
294,721 news stories last year, and President Abdullah Gül, who was
covered by 151,734 news items, were the most talked-about politicians
last year, followed by Deniz Baykal with 77,655 stories, former
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer with 55,370 stories and former Speaker
of Parliament Bülent Arýnç with 35,431 stories.
03.01.2008
Today’s Zaman Ýstanbul