Presidency’s Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun made the following remarks at the opening of the Training Program for Economy-Finance Reporters in İstanbul held jointly by the Directorate of Communications and the Presidency's Finance Office: "Reporters and journalists working in the field of economy and finance bear a significant amount of responsibility in the fight against perception management operations, disinformation, and black propaganda that we face in our struggle for economic independence."
Stating that the first of the program was held with the participation of Anadolu Agency and TRT reporters, Altun stated that the program will be organised for reporters working in the fields of economy and finance in other media institutions in the coming days and that it is planned to be expanded to include especially communication faculty students.
Defining the expert as "a person who immersed oneself in a certain field or subject and has a high opinion and skill", Fahrettin Altun said that journalism is a profession that demands expertise in itself, as well as its own sub-speciality fields.
Noting that in the past, journalism was once described as a kind of knowledge-making, a "profession with more or less knowledge of everything", Altun stated that in the changing world and media environment, the pace of which is hard to keep up with, journalism began to be defined as "the profession of those who know everything in a specific field".
"The economy is one of the most manipulated fields"
Director of Communications Altun stated that as Türkiye's leading role, effectiveness and visibility in regional and global affairs increase, those that are bothered by this make their presence felt more. Altun went on to say:
"Every time Türkiye rises up, takes steps toward progress, advances its economy, and improves the nation's welfare and peace, those who cannot bear the country's growth and development or whose interests are jeopardised rush to intervene. The economy is one of the most manipulated and misled fields in this process. Unfortunately, in our country, we frequently witness the distortion of economic facts for perception management operations, the presentation of disinformation as news, and thus the harm to our economic and social lives.
We all recall the media outlets that attempted to destabilise the government in the past through their headlines. We can see the pens trying to align with their economic commitments by pointing fingers at representatives of the national will today, as well. Türkiye has eradicated all forms of tutelage towards a democratic political arena in the last 20 years under the leadership of our President. This includes media tutelage as well. Just as media tutelage was eliminated entirely yesterday, it will be fully eliminated today, no matter where it comes from. The primary concern is the democratic political arena; the primary concern is legitimate competition inside the democratic political arena and safeguarding the environment and conditions thereof. Although attempts to damage and destroy this environment vary in content, they are all identical in nature. Therefore, it is necessary to combat malicious elements. This is how we approach the process. This is our perspective on media tutelage. The media is an element that contributes to the strength of the democratic political arena; it is not an element that imposes tutelage on elected officials in a democratic political arena and leads them according to their own desires."
"We pay no heed to scaremongers"
Pointing out that the struggle for economic independence against the dependency-based global economic order and its internal extensions is being waged with determination and success, Altun said, "We witnessed together that the problem in Gezi Park vandalism, which occurred during a period when we had the lowest interest rates in our history immediately after paying off our IMF debt, was clearly not about the trees, but our economy's strong performance. Türkiye's political history serves as the best evidence of this fact. Even during the period when we were fighting for economic independence, these malicious provocations continued with efforts to create a perception of economic depression in the country through various lies and disinformation. However, we pay no heed to those scaremongers. We are well aware of who they are and what they are attempting.”
Fahrettin Altun stated the following:
“We have always thwarted the attempts to undermine our economy with sanctions, currency manipulation or financial speculation. We have taken all of our political, economic, and commercial measures to counteract the operations of these circles, and we have taken all our steps by planning ahead. At the same time, we utilise communication mobilisation to counter any diplomatic or economic attacks targeting our country. As fake news, perception management operations, and reputation assassinations against individuals and institutions are frequently used as weapons by anti-Türkiye groups. It is fundamental that we respond with the most powerful counter-arguments. If only we could move forward with positive agendas and talk about positive developments. Positive developments make up a significant portion of Türkiye’s agenda. Unfortunately, we inevitably have to deal with negative agendas since the fight against disinformation, which is constantly going on, is an unavoidable task for the country’s interests. This is a must for all media professionals committed to the truth. Reporters and journalists working in the field of economy and finance bear a significant amount of responsibility in the fight against perception management operations, disinformation, and black propaganda that we face in our struggle for economic independence.”
Reminding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan put into effect a new Turkish economic model to transform Türkiye into a state of stability, investment, production, employment and welfare, Altun said, “The primary premise of finance journalism must be to understand the world’s economic parameters and the model presented by our country in this regard, and to portray them to the public in a fair manner. In this sense, while economy and finance journalism informs the masses about our country’s economic achievements, it should also serve as a source of factual information in the face of economic disinformation spread by the international media about our country.”
“We will stand up against disinformation campaigns”
Stating that Türkiye went down in history as a state most exposed to economic and financial perception management operations and disinformation campaigns, Altun noted that some members of the international media worked as bearers of perception management operations and black propaganda against Türkiye with political and economic purposes in this process.
Underlining that the “so-called” mentality of journalism produced using false and distorted data against Türkiye went beyond the limits of tolerance, Altun said that it was an undeniable fact that some foreign media outlets were trying to design the countries they choose as targets by the news reports they publish.
Pointing out that social media, on the other hand, has been recently added to those disinformation, manipulation and perception management tools, Altun said, “Social media is not an independent platform in this respect, it has instead turned into a device through which actors and platforms with direct political or even ideological orientations conduct disinformation campaigns systematically. Social and economic engineering and design attempts through fake news will not be permitted, regardless of the tools, strategies and means used. We will stand up against those.”
Emphasising that Türkiye has become more resilient to all types of attacks in the last 20 years as a result of the government system, which was built from a visionary perspective in every field, Altun said, “In addition to our healthcare system, which has successfully handled the global pandemic, our economy, banking and financial systems have also overcome the global economic crises with the minimal loss and damage. It is the primary responsibility of our economy reporters to communicate this success to our own citizens first, and then to the rest of the world, as well as to provide accurate economic and financial data about our country.”
"The Turkish Economic Model is the reflection of a prudent management style"
Referring to the fact that Türkiye has been working hard against problems related to the pandemic, terrorism, migration and refugees as well as financial problems in recent years, Altun continued:
"While our governments have taken an active part in resolving global issues, they have also made intensive efforts to ensure that these issues are resolved in a humane and peaceful manner, utilizing all facets of diplomacy. However, beyond all this, some have attempted to slander our country on the pages of the economic news and television, creating the impression that the problems I have mentioned do not exist on a global scale, but only in our country. Unfortunately, there was an attempt to conceal the fact that these are global issues, that Türkiye is the least affected country on a global scale and that it continues to serve its citizens from a strong social state perspective."
Stating that President Erdoğan provided the best response on December 20, 2021, by announcing the "Turkish Economic Model" to those who try to deceive people by manipulating the exchange rate and speculating that "the foreign currency will further increase, buy more foreign currency", Altun said: "He spoilt the game and created a new game. The Turkish Economic Model introduced by our President is the reflection of a prudent management style; it is the culmination of 20 years of hard work. We believe it is critical that this model, which has proven to be successful in a short time, is accurately and understandably explained to the global public by our economy reporters, in whose skill and influence we lay our trust.
Altun said, "With the new Turkish Economic Model, which is based on investment, employment, production, exports, current account surplus, and focused on growth, I believe that we will take firm and confident strides toward a great and powerful Türkiye. Then the development of the economy press would be noticeable. We will witness an increase in investments in this field. We will also see that the private sector would encourage specialization in this area. Because we know that the development of economy journalism in a country is directly related to the development of economy and growth of that country.”
Altun, who stated that the need for trained human resources for developing and growing economy journalism is undeniable, also stated that economy reporters who can understand graphs and tables, interpret movements of money, know the country’s potential, production-consumption habits and convey them to the public in an understandable manner would achieve a different position in the profession of journalism.
Altun remarked that boosting financial literacy is critical for investments and savings in Türkiye to grow and that field reporters play a vital part in this process.
Altun, who stated that it is not enough to know only the Turkish economy, said that reporters who comprehend how the international financial system works are well-versed in new communication technologies, have strong analytical skills and can communicate interactively will have a say in the future of the economy press. “It is very important to train well-equipped journalists in economy journalism, which is a field that is susceptible to manipulation. We all know that in our country, which has a growing and developing economy, the economy press has no trouble finding stories. I believe that our economy press will also get the opportunities created by the Turkish economy,” Altun said.
Fahrettin Altun stated that the Directorate of Communications has undertaken numerous activities and projects to contribute to the professional development of journalists and to improve their working conditions, and added that the Training Program for Economy-Finance Reporters is one of these activities, which will benefit reporters significantly.