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Turkish journalist, blogger and media expert. Writes regular columns for The Arab Weekly and contributes to Süddeutsche Zeitung, El Pais and the Guardian. An European Press Prize Laureate for 'excellence in journalism' in 2014, Baydar was awarded the prestigious 'Journalistenpreis' in Germany by Südosteuropa Foundation in February 2018.
Killing Of A Young Journalist Sheds Light On Dark Face Of Slovakia
Journalism is, at its core, about covering power structures. This means that when it is at its best, it has to confront corruption, the corrosive element that gnaws at societies, a threatening monster that is determined to exterminate journalists who are equally determined to expose and battle it.
The price for reporting about corruption, with tentacles all over the power structures and beyond, can be death.
Now, death has come to Slovakia, which last week became the stage of the heinous killing of a young, bright, bold investigative journalist – along with his fiancee. They were killed in their home by single bullets. The victim was Jan Kuciak (27), a rising star in the area of in-depth reporting.
There is little doubt about who was behind the shooting: all suspicion points to the dark forces of the mob.
That such crime has entered Slovakia is not a surprise. It was only a matter of when, not if. Although the lawless decade since the collapse of the rotten communist system had been relatively free for journalists, it was an open secret that the greed had only changed colour.
Corruption in Slovakia is an age-old cancer. During World War II, the country’s Nazi-puppet government rewarded citizens who informed on Jews. Under Communism, secret informants and party members enjoyed similar material and social advantages for betraying their peers. With the arrival of democracy, the well-connected again made out like bandits through privatization: the scandalous transfer of almost all of the nation’s assets to private owners through murky tenders and for a fraction of their real worth.
Jan was working with the tabloid Novy Cas on shedding light on politically motivated fraud, trying to expose the Italian connection with the local gangs. The Calabrian mafia dimension in his quest for truth was dramatic enough to raise concerns for his life, and the worst, sadly, happened.
His story is told here by Tom Nicholson, a Canadian journalist, who worked with him.
