Turkish-German media seminar held in Antalya

The two-day seminar, titled "Social Media and Social Movements," discussed "New Era of Journalism and Opportunities and Risks for Media and Citizen Journalism as Vanguard of Political Movements." The seminar was held at Ramada Plaza Hotel in Antalya by the German Embassy on November 7-8 and attended by some 30 Turkish and German press members.

Medialog Platform Deputy Secretary-General Murat Akşit attended the seminar as the representative of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) and made a presentation titled "Media Ethics, Rights and New Legal Approaches in Citizen Journalism." Many citizens consider themselves as activists, not as journalists. Therefore, they don't feel themselves obliged to abide by media ethics. And if the context produced by such people are posted on certain websites that lack any editorial control, this may create unwanted results," Akşit said.

Drawing attention to the need for readers to be more careful in assessing the context generated by citizen journalists, Akşit indicated: "As citizen-generated news stories tend to be flawed with biases, readers should not act as passive recipients of information, but as active users of news. They should check the information provided in such context with other online or offline resources."

During the seminar that was largely attended by bloggers and representatives of the digital media, it was underlined that the increased interest in the social media has not eclipsed the interest in the printed media. The examples of citizen journalism during the Gezi Park protests were praised. The need for introducing regulations in compliance with the standards in force in democratic countries was also noted.

Published on Medialog, 08 November 2013, Friday