EMU Communication Days Hosted editör of ‘Direnişteyiz’ online news site İlknur Kavlak

Within the framework of 2015 Communication Days organised by Eastern Mediterranean University Communication and Media Studies Faculty, editör of ‘Direnişteyiz’ online news site İlknur Kavlak delivered a presentation entitled “Media as a Means of Resistance and Support, Not as an Alternative”. Starting her presentation with her criticisms on mainstream media, Kavlak discussed the question “What kind of media or reporting do we need?”.

Continuing her presentation with a video screening explaining how ‘Direnişteyiz’ emerged as an online media tool, Kavlak put forth that  former ‘Gezi Resistance’ has a major role in the emerging of the online news site “Direnişteyiz”. Kavlak added that their site “www.direnisteyiz.net” is the product of a group of volunteers and aims to provide the public with reliable and healthy news flow.

Kavlak stated that the terms “Alternative media” or “citizen journalism” define their operations and added that their aim is to fight against darkness created by the current media and, at the same time, to provide alternative media channels for the opressed.

Kavlak also highlighted the effects of media on the society. Stating that the current system is capitalist imperialism, Kavlak added that monopoly has contributed largely to the enlargement of media, which brought social insensitivity, insecurity and self-interest, all contributing to inequality and exploitation within the society. Kavlak also talked about the methods of news servicing in Turkey and around the world.

At the end of her presentation Kavlak read the following extract from Paulo Freire’s ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’: “The word is more than just an instrument which makes dialogue possible; accordingly, we must seek its constitutive elements. Within the word we find two dimensions, reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed—even in part—the other immediately suffers. There is no true word that is not at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is to transform the world.”

Credit: EMU