Open to All the Voices of the Universe

Monday morning, just before 8 am. The megacity that is Istanbul is waking from its slumber. Things are already bustling in the small studio broadcasting Açık Radyo, or "Open Radio". Presenters Ömer Madra and Avi Haligua are discussing the day's headlines.

Several suspects in the Ergenekon case have just been arrested. The trial against the underground group accused of trying to overthrow the government has held Turkey in suspense for years now. As well as numerous members of the military, a number of well-known journalists are in detention. "The Turkish state doesn't always act according to the rule of law," Ömer Madra comments on the ongoing investigation.

The main emphasis of news coverage at Açık Radyo is on human rights and environmental issues. "We're not saying we're objective. But we're always on the side of the weak!" says Ömer Madra.

The white-haired 65-year-old is wearing jeans and trainers. He's Turkey's best-known environmental activist and human rights expert. He's been running the Istanbul station for 15 years, and it now enjoys cult status among intellectuals. The broadcaster provides them with information they wouldn't otherwise receive from regular news reports.

The programme makers maintain close links with non-governmental organisation and civil rights campaigners across the country, and therefore receive first-hand information.

Independence from big media concerns

On this particular Monday morning for example, the editorial office receives an email from the Black Sea coast. An environmental activist reports that police beat him up at a peaceful demonstration. He had been collecting signatures against a planned hydroelectric power plant.

Ömer Madra and Avi Haligua read the eye-witness report out on air and compare it with the agency reports on the story, which are short on any kind of detail.

The morning programme "Açık Gazete" is the station's flagship show. Presenters take a critical look at Turkish media, assessing it in the light of foreign opinions and eyewitness reports.

Every morning, Avi Haligua pores over a thick stack of international newspapers. Plurality of opinion is not a matter of course here, he explains. For a start, two-thirds of the Turkish newspaper market is owned by the Doğan Media Group:

"We try and understand what the real story is behind the reports from the big media companies. If we look at an English and a French newspaper, and compare those versions with those presented in the domestic Turkish press, then the story usually looks quite different," he says.

The 32-year-old journalist works for Açık Radyo on a voluntary basis, just like his other colleagues, which number around 200. The only salaried employees are the editor-in-chief and those working in the administration and broadcast technology departments, a total staff of 28.

For six years now, Avi has been arriving at the station at 6.30am every day, leaving a few hours later to attend his day job at an environmental organisation.

He's often asked why he does it. His response is to say that he has in the meantime been able to make a difference, and that he can't simply give up that hard-won influence. He thinks of the flood of letters from listeners arriving in the office each day: "Somebody has to do it. This radio station is the only truly independent broadcaster in the whole of Turkey."

Bukowski readings on air

Açık Radyo would never accept any state funding, explains Ömer Madra, because the state exerts pressure on alternative media. In September 2000, Açık Radyo was shut down by the Turkish media supervisory agency. In explanation, it said the broadcaster had violated moral codes by airing a short story by Charles Bukowski.

Following protests, Açık Radyo was allowed to reopen two weeks later. The memory elicits a smile from editor-in-chief Ömer Madra: "We played a wonderful Roma protest song, about a lemonade vendor who sings: No one can touch me! And I greeted listeners with the words: Now where were we?"

Açık Radyo first hit the airwaves more than 15 years ago, on 13 November 1995. The non-profit association was founded as a collective by more than 90 trustees, who still retain the same share of the organisation to this day. The structure aims to guarantee journalistic independence.

These days, around 60,000 regular listeners and up to 200,000 occasional listeners tune into the full programme each day. Editor-in-chief Ömer Madra is proud of the fact that the broadcaster receives a substantial proportion of its funding through audience donations. These now make up 45 percent of the budget – alongside advertising revenue.

This is another reason why the programme is designed to be "in touch with the people". Taxi drivers and tea vendors get to have their say, just like US globalisation critic Noam Chomsky or the Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery.

In 1999, when an earthquake struck Turkey 100 kilometres east of Istanbul killing thousands of people, Açık Radyo was rapidly turned into a kind of catastrophe centre, broadcasting reports on the rescue operation from morning to night.

International cooperation

The station's motto is "Open to all the voices of the universe". And that includes musical voices: the Istanbul frequency 94.9 broadcasts a mix of reggae and classical, music, Turkish pop and world music. The station cooperates with radio broadcasters across the world, not just with the French broadcaster Radio France Internationale.

For many years, Açık Radyo has also been broadcasting 15 minutes of Deutsche Welle's Turkish programme early every morning.

In its progress report of November 2010, the EU Commission reissued Turkey with a stern reprimand on the subject of freedom of speech. Erol Önderoğlu, a correspondent for "Reporters without Borders" and a journalist at the EU-funded Turkish online magazine "bianet.org", can only agree with the report's findings. At the present time, he says, five journalists are in detention on charges related to their professional activities.

There are actually more than 30 journalists in prison at the moment, many of them accused of involvement in terrorist activitiesconnection with the aforementioned Ergenekon case). Önderoğlu says the situation has not improved much since the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, adding that this is why critical civic media outlets such as Açık Radyo are so important.

But nevertheless, he adds, even a station like this can be shut down at any time – a sign that diversity of opinion is still undervalued in Turkey.

Claudia Hennen

© Qantara.de 2011

Translated from the German by Nina Coon

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

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