SAT-7 TÜRK NEWS UNIFIES CHURCHES IN TURKEY
SAT-7 TÜRK’s news service SAT-7 TÜRK HABER has established itself as a valuable source of news in Turkey. By providing reliable and objective news from across the country, the channel is helping unify and inform churches and Christians in Turkey.
People in Turkey love watching television and, more than anything else, they love watching the news. However, news about Christians is often misrepresented in secular TV. By providing reliable and objective news related to Christians from around the world, SAT-7 TÜRK has gained the respect of other media companies and is often consulted by them on all aspects of news about Christians and the Church.
A NETWORK OF CHURCHES
SAT-7 TÜRK HABER is highly regarded among the Christian community in Turkey, becoming a first point of contact relating to news about Christians.
“We are working on finding individuals at each church, who can serve as a point of contact, and who will keep us updated on their news, prayer requests and church updates. It will then be up to us to present this information as news,” explains Melih Ekener, Executive Director of SAT-7 TÜRK.
SAT-7 TÜRK already has such contacts in eight major cities in the country, and regularly receives two to three news items every day.
A NEWS STRATEGY
“News about Christians is vital,” comments Rita El-Mounayer, CEO of SAT-7. “Christians in Turkey have a voice and they need to be heard. It is crucial that we develop and finance a news department in Turkey.”
“Our goal for the future is to create a fully functioning news department. We want to become an ambassador of Christian news for Turkey” adds Melih Ekener.
In the future, SAT-7 TÜRK’s strategy of receiving news from local churches could be applied across the MENA. Networks of churches providing the latest news updates for Christians across the region could help connect and unite them.
REPRESENTING THE MENA
In recent news it has been acknowledged that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world. At near genocide levels, a majority of this persecution occurs in the MENA.
“As a Christian channel, we cannot ignore the reality of what is happening in the region” emphasises Levent Kınran, a member of the board of SAT-7 TÜRK and a representative of TeK, the Protestant Churches Association.
In the MENA, where Christians are a persecuted minority, news is essential for unifying churches and keeping them informed of news impacting other Christians in the region.