asiaNet Culture

"What you are witnessing is the explosion of a free medium in a closed society," said Ufuk Guldemir, whose site, Haberturk (www.haberturk.com), has become the standard bearer of the news portals.

Turkey's Internet news sites are thriving, even as mainstream media suffer from an all-time low in the public's esteem. Some new media leaders, including Guldemir, believe there is a connection to the two trends. "[Mainstream] media ownership is hugely concentrated in Turkey.