A report prepared by Center for American Progress titled “Turkey’s Changing Media Landscape” has shown that US NGOSs like NED fund Turkish news portals. Prepared by staunch anti-Turkey analysts Andrew O’Donohue, Max Hoffman and Alan Makovsky, the report discloses that Bianet, T24, Gazete Duvar and Medyascope are getting funds from American donors.
The four news outlets are known for their anti-governmental news. Turkish media criticized the report and called the government to deal with foreign funding of Turkish media. Turkish journalist Ahmet Yüreğir commented that “Americans are sponsoring only radical opposition news portals. There is no good intention behind that. The aim is to oppose Turkish government via their proxies. All money coming from abroad must be investigated carefully.” On the other hand, the same report complained about the ineffectiveness of sponsored media and proposed tactics for being more influential.
Meanwhile, T24 website’s motto “Independent Internet Newspaper- Bağımsız İnternet Gazetesi“, Medyascope’s “Because It Is Free- Çünkü Özgür“, Bianet’s ” Independent Communication Network- Bağımsız İletişim Ağı” and Gazete Duvar’s ” Principled, Independent, Objective- İlkeli, Bağımsız, Objektif” were seen weird by social media users.
