Bankrupt daily appeals for money from readers
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by Sevim Songün
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 28, 2008 00:00
ISTANBUL - Taraf daily, despite being a young newspaper with limited circulation, has become a newspaper that sets the country’s agenda. It recently started a campaign calling on its readers to give advertisements to its pages so that it could rescue itself from its current financial problems.
Controversial Turkish daily, Taraf, went with a subheading saying, "We are going bankrupt; still we give you the best," in its new promotion offering 10 classical books in a week to its readers.
Young and small but Taraf, which literally means "side," has become a newspaper that sets the agenda by addressing controversial issues. It recently started a campaign calling on its readers to give advertisements to its pages so that it could rescue itself from its current financial problems.
"We are passing through the hard times" is the headline of a statement on daily Taraf’s Web site. The newspaper’s advertisement income decreased after its famous headline "General’s Prime Minister," where it criticized the government’s pursuit of a more pro-military policy especially following the terrorist attack in Aktütün in October.
"We face pressure from all sides. Our advertising revenue was already low; now we are excluded from even the largest advertising campaigns," said Taraf in its statement.
Instead of firing its personnel, the daily offers another solution; it has called on its readers to buy adverts in any size they want to support the newspaper.
The readers responded to that call immediately by giving personal or supportive texts as advertisements in Taraf’s pages over a week. Some even wrote poems. "In the name of law and democracy, I support Taraf," says one advertisement sent by a theologian.
"Our heads are covered, our mind is open and what is more we had never been so sure about our position. No backbiting. We are only taking sides," says another unsigned ad.
The readers’ advertisements reflect the stance taken by Taraf over its short history, with many coming from girls wearing headscarves who are banned from going to universities or Kurds who want improved rights. Sometimes, readers invite Taraf readers to their homes, city, or coffeehouse. "We expect our friends in Taraf to drink tea in Diyarbakır," says the ad given by customers of Şevket Abe’s Tea House last Wednesday. Readers also established an association to support the newspaper in its hard days. "Reading Taraf requires taking responsibility" is the slogan of the association that plans to organize revenue generating activities and call famous people to support Taraf.
Many columnists gave full support to Taraf for the sake of democracy and freedom of speech.
"I appreciate Taraf for it walks unafraid into dangerous areas on issues of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedoms and it defends views contrary to the system," said Hasan Cemal, in his column in daily Milliyet on Nov. 23.
Journalists’ support
Saying he did not always agree with Taraf’s publishing policy, Haşmet Babaoğlu, a columnist in daily Sabah wrote in his column Nov. 19: "One thing is clear. I can no longer imagine a press without Taraf. I even don’t want to think possibility of that."
The call from Taraf is not the first in Turkey. The daily Birgün, a left-wing small newspaper, had called on its readers to buy its newspaper, too. Also the daily Cumhuriyet called on its reader to buy more than one newspaper a day when the daily went bankrupt in 1990.
"We support the survival of each press organization. We believe Taraf should survive for the sake of freedom of press, pluralism in the press and the future of the press staff in that newspaper," said Sergül Keskin secretary general of Turkey’s Journalists Union.
Although many journalists congratulated its first year this month, some are critical about the daily’s financial sources. "I have a critical point of view toward the financial sources of Taraf," said Şükran Soner, a columnist at the daily Cumhuriyet.
"It is against nature to establish a new newspaper without getting support of a capital owner or a political party neither in Turkey nor in the rest of the world," said Soner. "How did they finance their first advertisement campaign when they first published?"
Soner gave the example of the daily Cumhuriyet saying that its personnel could not get their salaries for a long time after the bankruptcy in 1991, "even though it has a brand mark of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and rooted readers."
Taraf was first published a year ago by the Alkım publishing. It is also located at the Alkım Bookstore’s fourth floor in Istanbul’s Kadıköy. There were rumors, saying the newspaper was backed by George Soros, American financial speculator and chairman of Open Society Institute, or Fetullah Gülen, an Islamist preacher and writer living in United States.
The owner of Alkım Publishing house, Başar Aslan meets the costs of the daily from his own pocket claims the Taraf employees. "We have no company, state, institution or community financially aiding us. Başar Aslan uses his own budget and we get a limited aid from Mehmet Betil," Yasemin Çongar, deputy editor of Taraf, told daily Zaman on July 23. Associates of the editor-in-chief of Taraf, Ahmet Altan, said he was too busy to answer Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s questions.
Young and small but Taraf, which literally means "side," has become a newspaper that sets the agenda by addressing controversial issues. It recently started a campaign calling on its readers to give advertisements to its pages so that it could rescue itself from its current financial problems.
"We are passing through the hard times" is the headline of a statement on daily Taraf’s Web site. The newspaper’s advertisement income decreased after its famous headline "General’s Prime Minister," where it criticized the government’s pursuit of a more pro-military policy especially following the terrorist attack in Aktütün in October.
"We face pressure from all sides. Our advertising revenue was already low; now we are excluded from even the largest advertising campaigns," said Taraf in its statement.
Instead of firing its personnel, the daily offers another solution; it has called on its readers to buy adverts in any size they want to support the newspaper.
The readers responded to that call immediately by giving personal or supportive texts as advertisements in Taraf’s pages over a week. Some even wrote poems. "In the name of law and democracy, I support Taraf," says one advertisement sent by a theologian.
"Our heads are covered, our mind is open and what is more we had never been so sure about our position. No backbiting. We are only taking sides," says another unsigned ad.
The readers’ advertisements reflect the stance taken by Taraf over its short history, with many coming from girls wearing headscarves who are banned from going to universities or Kurds who want improved rights. Sometimes, readers invite Taraf readers to their homes, city, or coffeehouse. "We expect our friends in Taraf to drink tea in Diyarbakır," says the ad given by customers of Şevket Abe’s Tea House last Wednesday. Readers also established an association to support the newspaper in its hard days. "Reading Taraf requires taking responsibility" is the slogan of the association that plans to organize revenue generating activities and call famous people to support Taraf.
Many columnists gave full support to Taraf for the sake of democracy and freedom of speech.
"I appreciate Taraf for it walks unafraid into dangerous areas on issues of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedoms and it defends views contrary to the system," said Hasan Cemal, in his column in daily Milliyet on Nov. 23.
Journalists’ support
Saying he did not always agree with Taraf’s publishing policy, Haşmet Babaoğlu, a columnist in daily Sabah wrote in his column Nov. 19: "One thing is clear. I can no longer imagine a press without Taraf. I even don’t want to think possibility of that."
The call from Taraf is not the first in Turkey. The daily Birgün, a left-wing small newspaper, had called on its readers to buy its newspaper, too. Also the daily Cumhuriyet called on its reader to buy more than one newspaper a day when the daily went bankrupt in 1990.
"We support the survival of each press organization. We believe Taraf should survive for the sake of freedom of press, pluralism in the press and the future of the press staff in that newspaper," said Sergül Keskin secretary general of Turkey’s Journalists Union.
Although many journalists congratulated its first year this month, some are critical about the daily’s financial sources. "I have a critical point of view toward the financial sources of Taraf," said Şükran Soner, a columnist at the daily Cumhuriyet.
"It is against nature to establish a new newspaper without getting support of a capital owner or a political party neither in Turkey nor in the rest of the world," said Soner. "How did they finance their first advertisement campaign when they first published?"
Soner gave the example of the daily Cumhuriyet saying that its personnel could not get their salaries for a long time after the bankruptcy in 1991, "even though it has a brand mark of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and rooted readers."
Taraf was first published a year ago by the Alkım publishing. It is also located at the Alkım Bookstore’s fourth floor in Istanbul’s Kadıköy. There were rumors, saying the newspaper was backed by George Soros, American financial speculator and chairman of Open Society Institute, or Fetullah Gülen, an Islamist preacher and writer living in United States.
The owner of Alkım Publishing house, Başar Aslan meets the costs of the daily from his own pocket claims the Taraf employees. "We have no company, state, institution or community financially aiding us. Başar Aslan uses his own budget and we get a limited aid from Mehmet Betil," Yasemin Çongar, deputy editor of Taraf, told daily Zaman on July 23. Associates of the editor-in-chief of Taraf, Ahmet Altan, said he was too busy to answer Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s questions.