Strategies and tactics in exilic media: The case of Syrian oppositional media in Turkey

As the war in Syria increased in intensity, many oppositional media chose to move their centers of operations into Turkey—forcing them to adapt to a completely foreign regulatory environment, and an unstable political context. Furthermore, and in parallel, their institutional links with the media development sector were being deepened as well. This paper aims to investigate the regulatory, financial and political environment negotiated by Syrian community media operating in exile in Turkey, as well as to identify the main tactical arrangements used by Syrian media actors in negotiating between these constraints to ensure the survival of their outlets in an increasingly difficult environment.

Drawing on Michel de Certeau’s notions of strategies and tactics, the paper aims to explore the constraining and enabling functions of the relationship between Syrian exilic media in Turkey and the two most prominent actors they must deal with: a) The Turkish government, as the competent local authority (de)-regulating their work depending on their political interests in the Syrian war; b) International media development organizations that offer a financial lifeline for the survival of these media, along with trainings, coaching and monitoring. Thus, media actors have to manage a complex and difficult relationship with a (largely) centralized system of media support, based in Europe and the US, with its own specific notions of journalism and development. At the same time, they also have to chart a careful line with an increasingly belligerent, and erratic, government in Ankara, with its own priorities and interests vis-à-vis the large Syrian refugee community in the country. Strategies and tactics in this context allow us to locate the agency of these media actors along different layers and in their dynamic responses to ever-shifting conditions and to different centers of power.

The study will draw on in-depth interviews with Syrian media professionals and entrepreneurs in Turkey, as well as with their interlocutors in international media development organizations such as Free Press Unlimited (FPU), International Media Support (IMS) and Internews. Additionally, the study will look at policy documents such as regulations and memorandums of understanding that structure the relationship between these media actors and their partners in the international organizations and the Turkish authorities.

The paper aims at arriving at a better understanding of the complex system of choices made by exilic media organizations to guarantee their survival and achieve their objectives.