NTV, with its modern, squeaky clean, intellectual image is one of the many faces of the AKP propaganda network. NTV is owned by Ferit Şahenk, the wealthy owner of the Doğuş group which is active in seven different industries with 124 different companies, including banking giants Garanti.
It was Şahenk’s construction consortium that won the contract to build transporation connections around the Marmaray tunnel. 4 billion dollars. The comfortable relationship between prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Şahenk is now well known. Erdoğan once referred to the tycoon as “brother Ferit”. NTV has progressively swayed to a clear AKP bias in its programming. Most of the guests are newly sprouted Muslim writers or journalists with obscure backgrounds, but a soft tone of voice that makes them perfect for NTV’s gullible Istanbul audience.
And now, Can Dündar, an acclaimed journalist by Turkish standards, is rumoured to be walking away from the channel. He said in his column that “media bosses that haven’t come from the media are succumbing to pressure from the top”. Banu Güven, a horrid presenter who talks amid stuttering, has been given an early holiday. The fact is, NTV doesn’t have any voices of reason anymore. They don’t even publish their science magazine, effectively killing any progressive thought the institution had.
Emre Kongar’s rapid 15 minute daily debate with flip-flop capitalist Mehmet Barlas, called Yorum Farkı, is usually the only thing worth watching, as the former has quite a brain and quite a pair of lenses.
In an interview Şahenk had said: “I’m aware that we’re seen as having a close relationship with the government. But there’s nothing that can be done.”
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