The Independent Communication Network (BİA) is going to celebrate its 10^th anniversary with a forum organized in Istanbul at the coming weekend. Bianet.org has become an indispensable a part of BİA with its daily updated news site.

The event to be held on 2 May will begin with the presentation of the media monitoring report of the first quarter of 2010.The media monitoring reports have been regularly published during the last 10 years and provide detailed data related to the development of freedom of expression in Turkey.

The penal discussion on "Media in Feigned Transformation, Silenced Voices" will be held subsequent to the presentation of the report.

The event will be lead by Esra Arsan from Bilgi University and Tuğrul Eryılmaz, supplement publications director of Radikal newspaper. Speeches will be given by Nurgün Balcıoğlu, publication director of the Gaziantep Sabah newspaper, Ferai Tinç from Hürriyet newspaper, Açık Radio (community radio) publishing director Ömer Madra, lawyer Fikret İlkiz, Hüseyin Aykol from Günlük newspaper, Gamze Yücesan from Ankara University and BİA education counsellor Sevda Alankuş from the Izmir Economic University.

The panel will progress with the contributions of the participants. It will be discussed whether the current structure of the media constitutes an obstacle for freedom of expression for large segments of society. Possible solutions to overcome those obstacles will also be part of the panel discussion.

The outcome of a 10-year's struggle

The BİA project was initially launched in 1997. The most enduring part is the news site with its daily updates. As part of the project launched by the IPS Communication Foundation, www.bianet.org has been online since December 2000.

The project was not driven by commercial interests but by the aim of developing an independent media. In this context, training programs for the local media, rights organizations, lawyers and future journalists have been organized. The outcomes of the educational programs have been compiled in a series of books in order to achieve a widely available source of information. Programs on basic rights were produced for local radios to be published free of charge. Legal support has been provided for the local media.

The media monitoring reports published quarterly and annually are a compilation of violations of freedom of expression. The main trend of the approach towards media rights is being followed up in a critical manner by the reports. The International Independent Media Forum held in Istanbul in 2006 brought together 90 participants from Turkey and abroad to share their experiences in this field.

BİA works for making prevalent journalism focused on concepts such as rights, peace or citizens. The Independent Communication Network embraces an external and internal approach of monitoring social gender equality, lifting hierarchies and questioning specialization. Throughout the past 10 years, bianet has been able to publish about 3,900 voluntary contributions from writers of all sections. (EÜ/VK)