Turkey's Independent Media Brace for New Crackdown

ISTANBUL - Rights groups are voicing alarm over a Turkish official's announcement of new legislation and controls on the foreign funding of social media in Turkey.

Dokuz8 Haber is one of many Turkish news portals that have launched on social media in recent years, offering independent journalism.   Like many others, it receives support from foreign sources. But this month, Fahrettin Altun, the head of the Turkish President's Communication’s Directorate, accused foreign-funded media organizations of acting as a fifth column in Turkey, undermining the government, he claimed, at the bidding of foreign powers.   Dokuz8 chief editor Gokhan Bicici dismisses the allegation, saying the attack is a response to the portal’s success in challenging what he says is the government’s grip on media.