Turkish News Anchor Visits Yale to Discuss the Democratization of Turkey

The democratization of Turkey will be the topic of a lecture at Yale by Turkish news anchor Banu Güven, who will visit Yale as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism. Güven’s talk, “Turkey: A ‘One Of A Kind’ Democracy and its Challenges,” will take place at 4 p.m. on April 21 in Room 129 of the Sterling Law Building, 127 Wall Street. The event is free and open to the public.

Güven is a news anchor at NTV, a Turkish nationwide television news channel that has partnered with MSNBC since May 2000. Güven joined NTV in 1997. After two years of reporting, producing and presenting weekly programs, she was assigned to “Night News.” From May 1999 until 2008, she was the anchor of the news program “24 Saat” (“24 Hours”) and “24+.” Since 2008, she has hosted the evening news. In addition serving as news anchor, she also covers major news events on location and conducts exclusive interviews with politicians and artists from around the world.

Güven writes a weekly column for Radikal, a daily Turkish language newspaper, and she writes articles on political and cultural issues for various monthly magazines.

A native of Istanbul, Güven’s career in journalism began during her years as an undergraduate student. She worked for the Swiss newspaper Züricher Tages-Anzeiger as a stringer, and served as an assistant to the paper’s regional correspondent. Later she worked at the foreign news desk of the Milliyet Daily, one of the leading Turkish newspapers. As a reporter, Güven traveled through the Middle East, covering areas including Syria, Northern Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Egypt and many Arab summits.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale brings to campus journalists who have made significant contributions to their field. Recent Poynter Fellows include Tom Brokaw, David Brooks, Al Franken, Tom Friedman, Ira Glass, Riz Khan, Soledad O’Brien, Charlie Rose, Margaret Warner, Michael Wilbon, Judy Woodruff and Bob Woodward.