Both were found, just two hours apart, at this same URL: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gezi-park-is-not-suitable-for-shopping-mall-turkish-pm-erdogan-says-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48418&NewsCatID=338
I encourage you read both articles and consider that the medium is the message. So sayeth McLuhan, so say we all.
Article 1:
Gezi Park is not suitable for shopping mall, Turkish PM Erdoğan says
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today that the Artillery Barracks, which is planned to be built on the site of Taksim Gezi Park, is not suited to having a shopping mall inside, speaking at a conference titled ‘’Rethinking Global Challenges: Constructing a Common Future for Turkey and the EU.’’
“Let’s plant trees there that will make a difference to Gezi Park. Once they stuck on the AVM [shopping mall]. It is already not possible to build an AVM there due to the number of square meters of the area,” he added.
Turkish PM says against violence, open to 'democratic demands'
Erdoğan also said his government opposed violence and was open to "democratic demands" raised by demonstrators whose mass protests have rocked the country.
"What we are against is terrorism, violence, vandalism and actions that threaten others for the sake of freedoms," Erdogan said in a televised conference in Istanbul. "I'm open-hearted to anyone with democratic demands."
June/07/2013
Article 2:
Turkish PM says against violence, open to 'democratic demands'
Erdoğan also said his government opposed violence and was open to "democratic demands" raised by demonstrators whose mass protests have rocked the country.
"What we are against is terrorism, violence, vandalism and actions that threaten others for the sake of freedoms," Erdogan said in a televised conference in Istanbul. "I'm open-hearted to anyone with democratic demands."
June/07/2013
Article 2:
Turkish PM shelves mall plan on Gezi Park, wants end to protests
ISTANBULThe prime minister once again assures Taksim protesters that no mall will be built on Gezi Park. However, he signaled no step back from the construction of a historical barracks on the site
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed plans to build a shopping mall at the controversial Gezi Park while calling for an end to more than 10-day protests during his speech at the Ministry of European Affairs Istanbul conference on June 7.Erdoğan repeated willingness to discuss “democratic rights,” saying, “The shopping mall is not possible in the Artillery Barracks anyway, given the measures. We told them that we may build a city museum instead, and a green area that would be far better than the current park. We also wanted to turn the Atatürk Culture Center to an opera building.”
The prime minister, who bids to rebuild the historic barracks there, called for an end to ongoing Gezi Park protests on his return from a four-day trip to North Africa in the early hours of June 7. “These protests must end immediately,” Erdoğan said today in front of thousands of Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters who greeted him at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport. “No power but Allah can stop Turkey’s rise,” he said.
Thousands flocked to the airport to greet Erdoğan in a show of solidarity with the country’s most influential politician over the Gezi Park protests that have shaken Turkey.
“The police are doing their duty. These protests, which have turned into vandalism and utter lawlessness must end immediately,” Erdoğan told the crowd.
“May Allah preserve our fraternity and unity. We will have nothing to do with fighting and vandalism...The secret to our success is not tension and polarization.” “God is Great,” his supporters chanted, and soon moved on to slogans referring specifically to the protesters in Taksim Square. “Let us go, let us crush them,” they shouted. “Istanbul is here, where are the looters?”
Speaking at the June 7 conference with a large group of foreign guests, Erdoğan said the events that had unfolded “with the excuse of Gezi” had been subjected to “horrible disinformation.”
“Social media has bred terrible campaigns of lies,” Erdoğan said. “I know every one of [the sources]. You have to know who to address in these situations, and this one has no one for me.”
“It makes you wonder what the function of their parliamentary counterparts is,” Erdoğan added. He further accused “a certain part of those at the Gezi protests” of wanting to hamper the ongoing peace process, adding that the European Union was also at fault in supporting such demonstrations.
“On one side you say you support the peace process, then you go ahead and support these people who wish to intervene with the process,” Erdoğan said.
The prime minister also targeted the foreign media during his speech, accusing the foreign outlets of “serving stories to placed orders with ideological approaches,” with his critique especially focusing on the recent full-page ad placed by Gezi supporters on the pages of The New York Times.
June/07/2013
***
This is a fascinating example of the new internet bound medium of "the news." The great "unfixed record" that is the internet, prone to manipulation and alteration, whatever the interest or bias.
While I should trust that Hurriyet Daily News has merely modified the article to better reflect the truth of Erdoğan's words delivered at the conference, one cannot help but notice a distinct shift in tone and tenor. The artistically wrought satiric contrast between the headline and the content, masterfully re-rendered. Certainly the information is distinctly different.
Whether the revised "publication" is more "accurate" or not, I have no idea. But it does introduce the question quite nicely -- is the news social media?
On this measure at least, I have to wonder if Erdoğan's mistrust of social media is not at least in part justified. Rumours are flying around Facebook of a shift in location of police violence, away from Taksim and redirected against protestors in smaller villages that are being ignored by both domestic and foreign media.
Curiously, these communiques are devoid of video or pictorial evidence. I have no measure of trust they are true, despite the fact they seem eminently plausible.
The internet is indeed a foul and malicious place, full of rumour and innuendo, all in support of our own preconceived notions and biases.
Yet I can't be everywhere at once. I can't see it all with my owns. How can I trust the media? Any media?
How am I to know what is true?
In an environment as ideologically charged as this, it's no wonder Erdoğan himself and his supporters distrust the media, social or otherwise.
It would behoove whatever domestic media in Turkey is covering the situation to leave themselves above question.
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