The Invisible Threat for the Future of Journalism: Self-Censorship and Conflicting Interests in an Increasingly Competitive Media Environment
M. Murat Yesil

Abstract
Self-censoring practices seem to be a serious threat for the future of journalism. Journalists around world are forced self-censoring by power players. Governments are the major players to force journalists to censor their news stories. In history, governments always wanted to control the media and made laws and regulations to put journalists under control. Journalists who dare not to obey the rules are severly punished. Using advertising as a weapon privately owned companies also put pressure on journalists. Publishers who need advertisement revenues for surviving have to accept whatever politicians and business owners told them to do. So publishers force the journalists working for them to follow the rules. In some countries gangs put pressure on jurnalists to prevent them to write about their illegal activities. They threat journalists with death. Although it changes from country to country, these are the main reasons which force journalists self-censoring. As a result of this, journalists choose not to write against the interests of any power players. They hide the facts they have already discovered, they cut any information which they think will bother the power players and even they do not want to make any search on any sensitive issue which they cannot write the truths about. This is called self-censoring. Journalists, who are supposed to inform the public about the events happening around the region they live, are unable to do their task for fear of losing jobs even their lives. Consequently, self-censoring practices of journalists put the future of journalism into danger. Preventing self-censoring is not an easy task but educating journalists and providing them a safe environment to conduct their search and publish their news stories may be helpful.

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