Commentary
A12 Today’s Zaman
Glued to the screen
Could you stomach Demonized as the “devil’s instrument” by
belly-dancing at those right-wing religious reactionaries
10 o’clock in the of the wackier persuasion, the televi-
morning? How sion continues to cause controversy in
certain circles. A conservative estimate
about listening to
suggests that most of us watch between
the outpourings two to three hours of TV per day. This
of middle-aged figure increases within certain sectors,
housewives tearfully such as the aged, the unemployed and
recounting some housewives. The reason for this sector’s
injustice or other they higher than average exposure to cathode
feel they have been subjected rays centers on those infamous “daytime”
to, or watching Jerry Springer- TV schedules. Have you ever watched
style ranting and raving daytime TV either in your home country
between studio audiences and or here? Wherever you view this block
selected “ordinary” people on of programming, the content and intel-
lectual level remain universally dire, with
the set? It’s enough to make you
a preponderance of “lifestyle” programs
choke on your mid- involving anything from gardening com-
morning coffee and petitions or interior design makeovers, to
cookies a multitude of cooking challenges which
Ashley Perks have made the likes of Jamie Oliver, Rick
Istanbul Stein or Anthony Worrall Thomson multi-
millionaires in Britain.
Here in Turkey, such programs are also
aired, of course, but there are also a num-
ber of broadcasts that, to an expat anyway,
are somewhat bemusing. Zapping across
the range from state-run Turkish Radio
and Television Corporation (TRT) stations
to across the gamut of private channels
on terrestrial, cable or satellite providers
exposes one to some remarkable offerings.
Much is entertaining, some shows
are dramatic, while others just
seem downright inappropriate.
Could you stomach belly-dancing
at 10 o’clock in the morning?
How about listening to the
outpourings of middle-
aged housewives tearfully
recounting some injustice
or other they feel they
have been subjected to, or
watching Jerry Springer-
style ranting and raving
between studio audiences
and selected “ordinary”
people on the set? It’s
enough to make you choke
on your mid-morning cof-
fee and cookies!
Trawling through the TV
Illustration by Cem Kiziltug
stations will also reveal seemingly dozens
of “discussion” programs where invited “ex-
perts” pontificate on whatever the subject
of the day may be. I have no objection to
such emissions, but where are the hard-
hitting interviews with top people that you
see in BBC’s “Hardtalk” for example, or
cut-and-thrust debates such as that pre-
sided over by Tim Sebastian in “The Doha
Debate,” or even Jeremy Paxman’s often vit-
riolic pursuit of the truth on “Newsnight”?
Not here you don’t. Tame talk show hosts
allow just about any talking head to drone
on, pushing their point of view with no rig-
orous challenges to what is being proposed
or preached. And they go on for hours.
If Turkey’s democracy is still in ado-
lescence and is not yet mature in many
people’s eyes, then Turkish television is
positively infantile -- barely walking, still
having some teething problems and chal-
lenges to its communication skills. It might
be worth just dialing back a little to chart
the inception and development of televi-
sion broadcasting in Turkey.
According to the “Historical Background
to Television and Radio in Turkey” page on
the www.byegm.gov.tr Web site: “Follow-
ing the adoption of the 1961 Constitution,
changes, renewal and developments were
witnessed in Turkey in all fields. Radio
and television broadcasting, one of the
most effective means of communications,
was assigned to the TRT according to the
provision stipulated in Law No. 121 of
the Constitution which states: ‘The man-
agement of radio stations and television
net-works are regulated under the law as
au-to-no-mo-us public corporate bodies.’
The Turkish Radio Television Law No. 359
was approved on Dec. 24, 1963, and went
into effect on May 1, 1964.”
The first television t-rans-missions in
Turkey be-gan on Jan. 31, 1968, and were
transmitted from a studio in An-ka-ra.
Television programs were broadcast by
means of a 5-kW transmitter in Ded-
edoruk, Ankara, and were followed by
trans-mis-si-ons from Ýzmir which began
on Aug. 26, 1968. In September 1970,
programs began to be broadcast in Ýzmir.
With the publication of the “TRT Estab-
lishment and Duties Regulations” on Sep-t.