Approximately 10 thousand journalists are unemployed, 142 journalists are on prison; criminal and compensation lawsuits continue to against hundreds of journalists. Another obstacle in front of the journalists, who continue to work taking the chance of arrests and unemployment, are press cards. The number of yellow press cards, used as the government as a tool to increase the pressure against journalists, decreased to 14,759 in April 2019. Yellow press cards of 2,397 journalists were annulled in the last three years.
Turkish Journalists Association Secretary General Sibel Güneş indicated that they are trying hard to reissue the annulled press cards, but that they can’t overcome the unlawfulness. Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) Press-Labour has also indicated that yellow press cards being issued by an institution that is directly bound to the Presidency is not in accordance with the principles of journalism. “In fact the press cards given to us by the government is not so important when there are so many attacks against journalism and the government keeps initiating these attacks,” the Association’s Chairman Faruk Eren stated.
13.05.2019
amerikaninsesi.com