"I come from the world's largest prison for journalists" | Press releases | '
"I come from the world's largest prison for journalists," said the Turkish journalist, who lives in exile in Germany. "We lost our freedom within a few years. Therefore, we should defend our rights very passionately, today more than ever. "
The growing influence of rulers on the media is scary. So Erdogan is today in Turkey "the most important media mogul". Dündar warned that Germany should not just accept this as a given. Anyone who supports an autocratic country like Turkey is also indirectly complicit in restrictions on freedom of expression and of the press.
Of necessity journalists would lose the distance. "We have become activists, not just journalists," says Dündar, whose family continues to live in Turkey. "Our country is on fire," he said, because he could not only report on it, but also had to help extinguish it.
Dündar discussed developments in the relationship between politics and the media at ‘'s international media conference with investigative journalist Georg Mascolo, British author and politician Michael Dobbs, and Belarusian media maker Galina Malishevskaya.
As far as the question of journalists can be activists, Mascolo said: "In Germany, in the Western world, journalism defends the system itself – and that is democracy. In this sense, we may also be activists here. "Otherwise, it is the most important task of the media to represent the diversity of opinions.
In Mascolos's opinion, the biggest remaining damage from the Trump era is that the US could no longer be considered authoritative in the field of freedom of speech and of the press. Some politicians in Europe considered this a license to restrict freedom of choice. Mascolo: "The basis of the European project is democracy and press freedom. Therefore, you have to act if the rule of law in an EU country is no longer guaranteed. "
The meaning of the social media for journalism and political discourse diverged. For Michael Dobbs, author of "House of Cards," the developments in the network have brought "the exact opposite" of free flow and free access to information. "Instead of hearing news, many people only hear the echo of their own prejudices," he said. And politicians no longer act in the sense of long-term goals, but only reacted to headlines.
Can Dündar, on the other hand, said that in Turkey social media are "vital". Galina Malishevskaya said of Belarus: "We have freedom of expression in relation to social media, but in terms of the press you can not say that."
The Russian opposition politician Leonid Volkov, who is in custody and therefore could not participate as planned in the round, sent a video message. He regrets that he can not be there. But his own story makes it clear "how the relationship between the media and politics in some other countries works," said Volkov.
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