If there were no journalists, this is what the country would look like

As we celebrate July 24 Press Day, let us ask: Why is the press called the fourth estate of democracies, unlike any other profession?

Because a country is governed by the government—the executive branch—while the judiciary oversees it, the legislature limits the administrators through laws, and journalists—who work independently and remain free from the influence of any power—oversee this entire process.

In other words, if those who govern the country, the members of parliament who oversee them, and the judiciary that monitors this entire process from a legal standpoint make mistakes, journalists exist to catch them; that is the reason it is called the fourth estate.

This formula works and continues to work in developed Western countries.

We saw the latest example of this in America, in the resistance shown by the media when presidential candidate Joe Biden continued his candidacy despite showing signs of dementia. All sensible American newspapers campaigned for Biden to withdraw. But while conducting this campaign, they put the country's interests, not their own, first, and they did so by arguing that Trump, who is likely to replace him, would harm the United States.

The New York Times published an article the length of a booklet titled 'Why it shouldn't be Trump?', and the main idea defended in the article was that Trump would be harmful to the United States; therefore, they argued that Biden should go and a candidate who could defeat him in the election should be put forward instead.

Now, what the media, America's 4th estate, wanted has happened; Biden has withdrawn, and his replacement will be a candidate likely to defeat Trump at the ballot box, most likely Kamala Harris.

We do not know how much all of this will work; we will see in the November election, but one thing is certain: if Trump is elected, the US will not be the same US as before.

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Let us come to the example of Turkey.

As is well known, political scientists no longer call the Turkish example a 'Democracy'.

Because the executive, legislative, and judicial branches have been tied to whoever sits in the palace through legal regulations.

The media is likewise in the hands of bosses who are very tightly bound to the administration and its organization. So much so that we read about general managers of huge agencies being dismissed because they did not follow the instructions of the bosses' drivers.

The media that calls itself opposition continues to grow by taking the negative aspects of the pro-government media as an example; while the pro-government media makes the palace untouchable, the opposition media has created and protects its own untouchables.

When this happens, the media, which we know as the fourth estate, can oversee neither the palace nor the alternative structures. Politicians, taking advantage of the fog in the environment, consider it their right to target dozens of journalists during press conferences.

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The result?

This is the state of Turkey.

A 10-fold increase in private school fees, a 10-fold increase in government services, understate inflation, shrink the retiree's pension and the worker's minimum wage to nothing, and that's it.

Do you understand the importance of journalists now?

If there are no journalists in a country, this is exactly what the country becomes.