How can you create your media with the support of NLTR?

Click for Kurdish News Lab Turkey’s (NLTR) Incubation* Program provides journalists training, micro-grant, and mentorship to create their own digital media channel.  NLTR founder Dr. Sarphan Uzunoglu told Botan Times that they started this work to “change the culture of journalism”.  The program is in Turkish and besides Turskish journalism ideas also give supports for Kurdish […]

How can you create your media with the support of NLTR?
How can you create your media with the support of NLTR?
Murat Bayram
  • 4 Ocak 2023 08:00

Click for Kurdish

News Lab Turkey’s (NLTR) Incubation* Program provides journalists training, micro-grant, and mentorship to create their own digital media channel. 

NLTR founder Dr. Sarphan Uzunoglu told Botan Times that they started this work to “change the culture of journalism”. 

The program is in Turkish and besides Turskish journalism ideas also give supports for Kurdish journalism. The application form will be open until February 6.

You can apply with this link ) 

Each participant receives £900 to start their work. In four years, NLTR supported 72 media channels and this year (2023) support for establishing 24 media works will be provided. 

Independent thoughts, small media

NLTR logo. Photo: NLTR

Likewise, media organizations are monopolized. Media organizations that are big are getting bigger and journalists are forced to work in those organizations. The digital world also allows journalists to open their channels in those places.

Dr. Sarphan Uzunoglu (Photo: NLTR)

“There is a culture in Turkey where journalists think they should work under the roof of an agency. But on the other hand, many journalists are not satisfied with doing their journalistic work according to the request of their superiors. 

We do workshops first, then stand by as a mentor and then give them a micro-grant.” said Dr. Uzunoglu

60% of the ideas stayed on and continued

NLTR workshop (Photo: NLTR)

“Approximately 3 percent of entrepreneur ideas stay on. For the media, we can say that one percent can stay on. We have supported 72 projects so far. We continue our relationship with them even after the project. We support them to find ways to keep going.  In this way, 60% of the projects that started working with us remained going on and some of them were much bigger. 

“We also support ideas for Kurdish media, for example, Podcast Kurdî is one of the agencies that came out of our Incubation Program.”

*Incubation in the dictionary, incubation in this program: the creation and implementation of ideas in media.

Yonca Sarsılmaz translated this news.