AGC awards found their winners

The ‘2023 Journalist Awards’ of Antalya Journalists’ Association (AGC) found their owners at a ceremony. At the ceremony, Ihlas News Agency Reporter Suat Metin was awarded the Sports News mention with his work titled ‘Fearless generation’ and was also deemed worthy of the Press Photo of the Year award with his photo titled ‘Breath of Life’. AGC’s 2023 Journalist Awards ceremony took place at a hotel located in the Konyaaltı district. Speaking at the opening of the ceremony, AGC President İdris Taş expressed that the association derives its power from professional principles and its long-standing history. Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Bayram Ali Çeltik stated that they fulfilled the request for a venue by AGC and emphasized that they are always by the side of the press. Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin said, ‘All the journalists in Antalya, whether they received an award or not, are all journalists of the year in these difficult conditions, I congratulate them all. After the venomous speeches, I sweated a lot thinking about what to say. When I started university in 1988, in the Introduction to Political Science course, our late Professor Dr. Bülent Daver said in the first lesson, ‘If you do not read at least four newspapers and at least eight to ten columnists a day, do not come to my class’. Because in those years, the country’s agenda was really determined by Turkey’s main 8-10 columnists, if you did not read them, you could not know what was happening. You had to read both from the right and the left so that you could know where the political world was heading. Unfortunately, today, the public opinion and the country’s agenda are determined by social media. A completely uncontrolled, entirely subjective and with no control over whether it is true or false, a chaotic environment dominates the country’s agenda. This is a very unhealthy situation. Newspapers must survive, if newspapers survive, the constitutional right of the society to be informed fully manifests itself. Otherwise, if we leave it to the mercy of social media, how will we know who will manipulate us and to what extent. If this indispensable thought and environment are internalized when writing regulations, maybe then, except for justice, security, apart from earthquakes, maybe then press can be excluded. Finally, let me conclude with Alex. No football player in Turkey has been able to give a saying to the Turkish language. There is a saying in Turkish; ‘He/she is good but not an Alex.’ This saying became usable not only in sports but in every environment. We thank President Sinan, he brought a coach that we cannot say ‘Not an Alex’, he brought Alex.’ After the speeches, the journalists were presented with their awards at the ceremony. Ihlas News Agency Reporter Suat Metin received the Sports News mention award from CHP Antalya Deputy Aliye Coşar for his work ‘Fearless generation’ and also received the Press Photo of the Year award for his photo ‘Breath of Life’ from Antalya Belek University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Yazıcı.