Abstract:

Journalists’ autobiographies or memoirs, with a broader definition, “ego-documents” are among the essential sources in the history of journalism. Although its subjectivity is a matter of debate, the subject itself and how it constructs itself within the text are worth examining in terms of journalism and news sociology. This study focused on three autobiographical books published in the same period, discussed similar issues and aimed to describe the current political-economic media climate with a comparative reading. The analysis showed that the journalists described the media environment which excludes them as the words “capitulated”, “hostage”, and “obedient”. Journalists point to media owners and patronage relations as the primary responsible for the current climate as well as the media policies of the government. In addition, it was observed that, instead of questioning the system, they reduced the lack of resistance and solidarity to individual moral problems and that they neglected the reasons that created this system. All three narratives focused on their own achievements, thus, the debate on the social, cultural, and political dimensions remained limited due to the lack of self-criticism.

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