an autobiographical entry on your relationship with the media. (what and why you consume- what you like and dislike in the media etc.)

As a child born in 1989 I should reveal that I grew up with the great effect of media. My mother used to watch soap operas and my father was addicted to news which he used to watch every night. We were under the influence of media as a family which used to have dinner in front of the television. As a child I was glad to have the right of waching TV as much as I want where my friends weren’t allowed to do so. Later on I’ve realized the negative effects of media on our family life, we were sitting apart in the seperate rooms and we weren’t sharing much as we were doing before. We lost our special family rituels and as the channel owners became more  interested in ratings then having a qualified broadcasting there was no use of watching the dull programs. Having a talk with your family became more attractice day by day. Now when I check my daily plan I realize that I don’t spend any of my virtious time with watching. For communication with the outer world I use the internet and the newspapers that are biased (unfortunately non are totally). Media takes role in my life less then before and nor I use it more effectively for my benefits and for gathering the information I need.

Compare different Turkish media outlets (newpapers, television stations, magazines, radio stations)– does the owner have an influence on the content? (who is the owner- is the ideology of the owner reflected in the content?)

Unbiased media is the one which people are willing to find, but which is hard to find. It is unfortunately impossible in today’s world to have a media outlet, which does not reflect the ideas of its owner. Turkish media has lots of examples of this bias, since there are lots of privatized media foundations. There is only one channel, which is regulated by the government. TRT is the one in which we don’t seem lots of propagandas. However, it also is avoiding giving any ‘threatening’ information about the leading political party. So, even the most ‘diluted’ TV Channel doesn’t inform citizens accurately, it is hard to learn the reality from the media. We as citizens prefer the unbiased news and information to be able to have and create our own ideas without any prejudices. Since my childhood I’ve always heard about the discussions about the effects of the leading party and the politic views. It seemed insignificant to me a few years ago but now I find it very repugnant. As a developing country Turkey needs objective media establishments to help the illiterate society to have an idea about the reality and what’s going on in the country. Media should educate people and open the curtain of illiteracy that blinds them instead of giving the strained truth.

Family G.

Daddy is the ‘hunter’, mummy is the ‘gatherer’. Throughout the human history, the roles of the members of the family don’t change very rapidly. It still has some similarities and in our family structures, even today, the father has the role of doing the hard works to be able to nurture his children, and the mother is the one who ‘gather the life’ of her children. While she is carrying her baby, she is preparing a future for her baby. This might be considered as that the father is the authority of the family, since he is the one to connect the family to the outside world. In my family, I can’t really say that my father is the only and the exact authority, although he is a very strong character, because he doesn’t give the decisions about all of us without asking to or taking advices from my mother. Also when they are planning to do something for the family, like a trip or something else, they are coming to me and my brother and telling about their plan. Although me and my brother, we both don’t seem like we have the right for objection, we, who are the fruits of the marriage and love, are the ones, whom they are giving their decisions according to.

Family&Marriage – What are we fighting for?

What is the role of the family in society? How important is the role that family has in society in your opinion? 

 After reading the article by Ralph Wedgwood, I started to think in a different way about the institution of marriage. I had the idea that people, who want to live together until the end of their lives, choose the way to marry. Maybe due to my nation, I was seeing marriage as an obligation to live together. In our society, in Turkey, to live together without marriage is not an acceptable process. In our country, people do not choose to marry with the people they love, to share the properties. It is not a mutual living agreement, it is not a document to show to society that “we are dividing everything into two, it is why we married”. In Turkey, it is just to get the permission of society to live together. This is why I saw the obligatory side of the marriage different than the writer. However, in an other way, I agree with him. If we consider other countries, where to live together without marriage is acceptable, it is true to say that people are choosing marriage not because it is an obligation, they are choosing it for the benefits of the legal side of it. Since it is to show that our marriage is a long-term marriage, it makes their marriage to gain good reputation from the society.

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