With few independent media left in Turkey ahead of important May elections, a strike by Reuters and AFP journalists is causing concerns about a lack of reliable news at a vital time. By Hamdi Firat Buyuk, Balkan Insights, 27 April 2023.
fter repeated failure to reach collective labour agreements, journalists in both Reuters and Agence France-Press, AFP in Turkey have decided to strike ahead of key elections on May 14, when independent media coverage is more needed than ever.
The strike decision came after both employers rejected the demands of journalists for pay increases and a protection mechanism reflecting high inflation rates, the loss in value of the Turkish lira and the high cost of living in Turkey.
“We have been negotiating with AFP and Reuters about a collective labour agreement since January on behalf of our members. An offer that would meet employees’ demands from both companies did not come,” Gokhan Durmus, president of the Journalists’ Union of Turkey, TGS, told BIRN.
Durmus, representing journalists in both media houses’ Turkey offices, said they had encountered an attitude that ignored the economic problems in Turkey and did not understand the demands of AFP and Reuters employees.
“Unfortunately, due to this attitude, we have come to the stage of a strike in both companies,” Durmus said.
However, the strike has raised concerns about access to reliable information ahead of critical general and presidential elections on May 14.
The strike was worrying as a “strong government propaganda machinery” continues to operate non-stop, Gurkan Ozturan, Coordinator of Media Freedom Rapid Response at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, told BIRN.
Journalists seek protection against economic turbulence
Unions and media experts say journalists are right to demand pay increases and better working conditions.
Journalists in both companies were demanding a large increase as the value of the lira plummeted by more than 200 per cent in the last three years and inflation is surging, officially running at a rate of 64 per cent last year, but unofficially far more.
TGS president Durmus confirmed that Reuters journalists demanded a 135-per-cent pay increase due to the high inflation rate and following low pay increases in the last few years.
However, Reuters offered only a 25-per-cent increase.
In AFP, journalists and the company are closer to each other when it comes to the agreed size of the pay increase, but the company has not met demands to create a mechanism to protect journalists from the continuous loss in the value of the Turkish lira.
“Media freedom in Turkey has been a problematic issue for a long time and combined with the economic downturn in the country it got even worse,” Ozturan said.
“Independent journalists in the country have devoted themselves to the field to report on developments and deliver accurate, reliable and verified information in a timely manner in such a crucial environment at such a critical time. While the country is heading for elections only days from now, Reuters and AFP journalists ask for a fair increase in their wages and decent working conditions,” he added.
Journalists not to blame for demanding their rights
AFP journalists will start their strike on May 3, marking World Press Freedom Day, while their colleagues in Reuters will start their strike on May 10, only four days before the elections.
According to Durmus, the strike was a necessity.
“There are great obstacles for the public in Turkey to reach the news. However, it is just as important that journalists at AFP and Reuters get their rights. Therefore, it would not be right to assign this responsibility only to employees. AFP and Reuters customers also need to put pressure on company executives, not employees.”
Ozturan agreed. “This way of approaching journalists’ basic demands concerning their livelihood undervalues the worth of facts and news, and it makes the media field more prone to influence from powerful actors while depriving readers and viewers from accessing news,” he said.
But Ozturan agreed also that the lack of AFP and Reuters reporters in the field during the elections has worried many.
“This strike is worrying in terms of following the election process in Turkey, defying the world, much-needed news coverage through a handful of independent media outlets in the country, while on the other hand a strong propaganda machinery continues to operate non-stop.
It is unfortunate that the employers have ignored this core duty of the media and offered below the standard wage increases and working conditions to a group of dedicated journalists who are highly proficient in their jobs and have been tirelessly informing the Turkish society and global news audiences about the ongoing developments, whether it is devastating earthquakes, wildfires or a historic election process,” he said.
Importing ‘strike breakers’ would be a ‘black mark’
As no agreement seems on the horizon between employees in Turkey and the media companies, both companies are finding a solution to the problem elsewhere.
BIRN has learnt that both companies are planning bring reporters from other country offices to follow the Turkish elections that are seen as one of the most important elections in the world in 2023.
“We heard that both AFP and Reuters were preparing to send people from abroad to work in Turkey while we were on strike, and we conveyed the necessary warnings to the company executives here. This is clearly strike breaking,” Durmus said.
Durmus, on behalf of AFP and Reuters employees in Turkey, sent two messages “I call on the journalists assigned to Turkey to not accept these duties, do not be strike breakers. Secondly, I’m telling the company executives that your decision is breaking the law and we will never let that happen.”
Durmus said that the decision will be remembered as a black mark in the history of both companies.
“Instead of making plans to break the strike, if our colleagues in Turkey are given the money to be spent on the people who will be brought, the demands will already be met. Spending more money to break the action of journalists working in Turkey by not meeting their demands will go down in the history of these agencies as a black mark,” he concluded.
Mustafa Kuleli, Vice President of the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, said AFP and Reuters are “reliable and prestigious media organizations both in the world and in Turkey, but unfortunately it is ignored that it is our journalist colleagues who create this value. The cessation of news flow from AFP and Reuters negatively affects the customers of these agencies rather than the Turkish public.
“Union law in Turkey clearly states that the employer cannot hire and employ other employees during the strike process. If AFP and Reuters employers try to recruit and employ outside journalists during the strike in their Turkish offices, there will be legal consequences,” he warned.
“In addition to the journalists we represent in Turkey, the EFJ, of which I am the Deputy Chairman, and the IFJ and UNI Global Union, of which TGS is a member, are with us in this process,” he continued. “We will not give up until we get what we deserve.”