The Doğan Media Group, which was the last remaining media conglomerate in Turkey which wasn’t under direct ownership of a government-affiliated business group, was sold to the Demirören Group, an energy-oriented business known for its loyalty the government.
In 2011, Doğan had sold Milliyet and Vatan newspapers to Demirören. The Doğan Group had come under pressure before in 2009 when it was hit by a record $2.5bn tax fine. Since then, the group felt the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) political pressure and its media outlets mainly toed the line, although there could occasionally be room for news reports not covered by the remaining Turkish media which is under direct government control.
According to news reports, Doğan Group owner Aydın Doğan and Yıldırım Demirören from the Demirören group met twice in the past month. The deal, which was signed on 21 March, was closed for USD 1 bln 250 million, according to news reports.
Outside the media industry, the Demirören Group has businesses in energy, industry, tourism, shopping mall management, housing projects, port operations, constructions, e-commerce, and education. A map, developed by the group Networks of Dispossession, showing their commercial links can be found here.
Erdoğan media
According to a calculation by the independent BirGün newspaper, 21 out of 29 national media outlets including newspapers and TV stations in Turkey now are under are owned by companies or individuals that are openly aligned with the government. This translates into 73 percent of all the media -- a change that occurs ahead of local elections, Parliamentary elections and then presidential elections next year.
Among the newspapers and stations owned by Doğan Media are the group’s flagship Hürriyet, the English-language daily Hürriyet Daily News, the high-selling Posta, the logistics and distribution company YAYSAT, the still-influential CNN Turk news station as well as a large number of other television networks, news websites, digital platforms and radio stations.
Demirören and AKP
According to most observers, the Demirören Group has effectively been managing its newspapers according to orders from AKP and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In 2013, Milliyet fired journalists Hasan Cemal and Can Dündar after Erdoğan expressed disapproval of their columns.
In 2014, a voice recording featuring a conversation between the head of the group Erdoğan Demirören and Erdoğan was leaked to the press. In the voice recording, Erdoğan expresses that he is upset over the publication of meeting minutes from a meeting between Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies on the prison island of Imralı in the Milliyet newspaper. He also asks for the source of the story and orders Erdoğan Demirören, to “take the necessary action” to which Demirören, who was 75 at the time, responds in tears.
Reactions to the sale
The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) has expressed immense concern over the sale. MLSA Chair Evin Barış Altıntaş said: “This sale, which takes place before the start of an election year, marks the end of an era. Although the Doğan Group mostly avoided critical reporting, it still offered a space for news items ignored by pro-government media and even produced some good journalism. Not are we losing that tiny breathing space in the mainstream media, but this deal will also lead to job losses for many more journalists. It also appears that the Doğan Media Group was coerced into selling its media assets to Demirören. Threatening media bosses into practically ‘handing over’ their newspapers is a new low and a heartbreaking disgrace even for Turkey."
A pro-government columnist, Cem Küçük, tweeted shortly after the sale: “Our local and national friends at Doğan should have no worries. Nor should the others be worried. They will get satisfactory severance pays. This is the beginning of a time of peace in the Turkish media.”
Doğan Newspaper Inc. and Hürriyet shares rose after the news broke.
A list of media companies owned by Doğan Media can be found below, although not every asset listed here was included in the sale:
News agencies: Doğan News Agency (DHA)
Television stations Kanal D, CNN Türk, Tv2, Dream TV, Dream Türk, Gazeteler Hürriyet, Posta, Fanatik, Hürriyet Daily News, TME
News websites hurriyet.com.tr, posta.com.tr, fanatik.com.tr, hurriyetdailynews.com,
Magazines under the Doğan Burda Magazines Group (Autoshow, Autoshow Tercih Rehberi, Atlas, Foto Atlas, Atlas Tatil, Atlas İstanbul, Atlas Tarih, Acıbadem Hayat, Beef&Fish, Blue Jean, Head Bang, Bulvar216, Brides, Burda, Burda Büyük Beden, Campus, Capital, Chip, Elle, Elle Man, Diabetic Living, Elle Wedding, Elle Decoration, Elle Shooping Book, Elle Beauty Book, Elele, Bebeğimle Elele, Evim, Evbahçe, Ekonomist, CeoLife, Formsante, Pozitif, Hello, Hello Fashion, Hey Girl, Yaz Keyfi, Hotelier, Güncel Hukuk, Haftasonu, İstanbul Shooping Guide, İzmir Guide, Ankara Shopping Guide, İstanbul Life, Best of İstanbul, Lezzet, Şımartan Tatlar, Level, Maison Française, Maison Française Banyo Mutfak, Maison Française Emlak Yaşam ve Mimarlık, Maison Française Celebrity Homes, Medicana, Pedal, PC Net, Popular Science, Sağlıkla Randevu, Start Up, Tempo, The Rake, Dolce Vita, Tempo Astroloji, Tempo Sanat, The Economist Tempo, Tempo Travel, Yacht Türkiye, Revolution,Doğan Egmont, Doğan Books).
Radio stations Radyo D, Slow Türk, CNN Türk Radyo, radyonom.com
Production companies D Productions, InDHouse, Kanal D Home Video, Doğan Music Company
Online advertising companies MedyaNet
Internet portals www.arabam.com, www.hurriyetemlak.com, www.hurriyetoto.com, www.yenibiris.com, www.ekolay.net, www.yakala.co, hurriyetaile.com, mahmure.com, bigpara.com
Publishing and distribution companies Doğan Dağıtım, Doğan Printing Center, Doğan Media International, Doğan Dış Ticaret,
Digital TV platforms D-Smart, Blu TV
European TV networks Kanal D Romanya, Euro D.
*Elif Akgül contributed to this report. Data sources used were taken from news sites T24, BirGün, Mülksüzleştirme Ağları and the Media Ownership Monitoring Project.
