Active in journalism for 34 years, Yavuz Baydar writes opinion columns for daily Today’s Zaman on Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy issues related to Turkey and media matters. Baydar blogs with Al-Monitor and the Huffington Post, sharing his analysis and views on Turkish domestic politics, the Middle East, Balkans, Europe, U.S-Turkish relations, human rights, free speech, press freedom, history, etc. He has recently co-founded P24, an independent media platform, whose mission is to promote good journalism, to raise the Professional standards, to monitor the breaches of freedom and independence of media and support investigative journalism on economy, defence, local governments and judiciary. Turkey’s first news ombudsman, Baydar was the Reader Representative with daily Milliyet and SABAH, between 1999 – 2013. Baydar worked as producer and news presenter in Swedish Radio &TV Corp. (SR) Stockholm, Sweden; as correspondent for Scandinavia and Baltics for Turkish daily Cumhuriyet between 1980-1992 and the BBC World Service, in early 1990's. He studied informatics, cybernetics and, later, journalism in the University of Stockholm. Baydar served as president of the U.S. based International Organisation of News Ombudsmen (ONO) between 2003-2004. He is a member of the World Editors Forum (WEF) and the Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ).
| 14:30 - 15:30 | Ballroom : First Plenary: "Media Under Attack"Turkey is hardly a media paradise. In terms of imprisonment of journalists, Turkey appears the most repressive country in the world. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made it clear that he does not like "watchdog" journalism. Powerful media owners are dismissing their sharpest, most popular journalists to appease government leaders at the expense of their own readers under a toxic cycle of state-run pressure that is depriving the Turkish public of the intellectual diversity and the right to be informed. This pressure is forcing a growing number of journalists to operate in a climate of fear. Moderators
Daoud Kuttab / JordanDaoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and media activists. He is the former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. Daoud Kuttab is currently the director general of Community Media Network (CMN) a not for profit media organisation dedicated to advancing independent media in the Arab region. CMN is registered in Jordan and Palestine and administers Radio al Balad in Amman, and www.ammannet.net Born in Jerusalem in 1955, Kuttab studied in the United States and has been working in journalism ever since 1980. He began his journalism career working in the Palestinian print media (Al-Fajr, Al-Quds and Asennara) as well as the audio visual field (Documentary producer). He established and presided over the Jerusalem Film Institute in the 90s. In 1995 he helped establish the Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN) a censorship free Arab web site www.amin.org. He established and has headed between 1996 until 2007 the Institute of Modern Media at Al-Quds University. In 1997 he partially moved to Amman (because of family tragedy and remarriage) and in 2000 established the Arab world's first internet radio station AmmanNet (www.ammannet.net). Mr. Kuttab is active in media freedom efforts in the Middle East. He is a regular columnist for the Jordan Times, The Jerusalem Post and the Daily Star in Lebanon. He has co-produced a number of award winning documentaries and children's television programs. His op-ed columns have appeared in the NY Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angles Times, The Daily Telegraph and Shimbum Daily in Tokyo. He has received a number of international awards among them the CPJ Freedom of Expression Award, the IPI World Press Freedom Hero, PEN Club USA Writing Freedom Award, the Leipzeg Courage in Freedom Award and the Next Foundation (UK) Peace through Media Award. He is a regular columnist for the Huffington Post, Palestine News Network, Al Arrabiya.Net and the Jordan Times. Speakers
Yavus Baydar / TurkeyActive in journalism for 34 years, Yavuz Baydar writes opinion columns for daily Today’s Zaman on Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy issues related to Turkey and media matters. Baydar blogs with Al-Monitor and the Huffington Post, sharing his analysis and views on Turkish domestic politics, the Middle East, Balkans, Europe, U.S-Turkish relations, human rights, free speech, press freedom, history, etc. He has recently co-founded P24, an independent media platform, whose mission is to promote good journalism, to raise the Professional standards, to monitor the breaches of freedom and independence of media and support investigative journalism on economy, defence, local governments and judiciary. Turkey’s first news ombudsman, Baydar was the Reader Representative with daily Milliyet and SABAH, between 1999 – 2013. Baydar worked as producer and news presenter in Swedish Radio &TV Corp. (SR) Stockholm, Sweden; as correspondent for Scandinavia and Baltics for Turkish daily Cumhuriyet between 1980-1992 and the BBC World Service, in early 1990's. He studied informatics, cybernetics and, later, journalism in the University of Stockholm. Baydar served as president of the U.S. based International Organisation of News Ombudsmen (ONO) between 2003-2004. He is a member of the World Editors Forum (WEF) and the Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ). |
