I was pleased to be able to check it out for myself and happy that I was being steered by someone in the know.
I spoke at an Internet symposium in an ultra modern conference center linked to Sabanci University. The Turks who were there reported on attempts to by the government to censor the Internet. They had catologed all of the challenges they face from Internet filtering and bans on 3700 websites.
Most inspiring was the efforts they are making to fight for more openness. I met the organizer of a demonstration that brought 60,000 Turks marching in the streets on this issue last May, the largest march for the right to surf in history.
An old friend who has lived introduced me to the real city. He works now at a university but years ago wrote frequently for Mediachannel, the now ailing website I helped create.
We had never met but were eager to do so. He's an American who has lived in Turkey for 13 years, drawn there by its literary traditions but now teaching history and getting a PhD. He is knowledgeable not just as a scholar but also as someone who had married a local woman and lived in a working class neighborhood. He is steeped in the culture and the country's shifting politics.
He showed me around, while explaining how religion and politics interact. He also knows alot about local foods, hot spots and the nuances of civic life.
He took me into the streets and the subway and even brought me along a day trip by ship to a nearby Island that allowed me to see the incredible expansion of the city with miles and miles of new constructions, with endless office and residential towers.
There seemed to be no end in sight even as the traditional Islamic culture intermixes with the most up to date consumerism, sport and fashion.
My friend also teaches at a new local high school and he arranged for me to speak to a class of journalism students. Wow, were they impressive! They researched my writing on the Internet and each prepared a thoughtful question that they put to me personally.
The High School is ultra modern with small classes and a high level of instruction. How many visitors get to have this type of one on one immersion with young people who represent the emerging Turkey? I have since been told that some of the students now say they want to become journalists as a result of my visit. How Cool!
We also went to the offices of the new Al Jazeera Turk channel that is due to go on the air in October staffed by nearly 200 people. They are now in temporary quarters and were training 30 new staffers, some refugees from CNN's operation there. I had met some of their people at conference in their headquarters city of Doha earlier in the year and they were glad to show me their ambitious plans.
It's all part of Al Jazeera's evolution into a truly global and multi-lingual network. They now broadcast in Arabic, English and are adding services in Turkish, Balkan languages, Indian languages and Swahili for a new channel in East Africa. I had a chance to lunch with and talk with some journalists who know so much more than I do about the local scene although they seemed approving of my recent reports from Istanbul.
I am thrilled, after all my years in American TV, in local news. Cable News, Network news and then as an independent filmmaker, to have even a small association with the network that is transforming TV news worldwide. (I am now a regular contributor to the Al Jazeera English website.)
We also checked out the famous Biennale Art exhibit that takes place in Venice and is now touring to the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art. There, in a small room, we watched the kinescope of a thrice weekly TV panel discussion from the early fifties called Chromoscope sponsored by the Longines Watch company.
It included the US Ambassador to Iran and an Oil Company executive discussing how important oil is to the US economy and foreign policy. You don't find such candid conversations on TV showing way oil imperialism works.
In the case of Iran, the Ambassador spoke about a politician named Mossadegh who he said he was very impressed by because of his brilliance of and good sense of humor, Information on the screen then explained that Mossadegh was soon overthrown by the US CIA that backed the Shah who was effusively praised by the panel. It offered great insight into how western diplomats and businessman dominate local politics,
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