February statistics


Once again the end of the month is here, so let's get to the review that returning readers are no doubt familiar with. For those who are not, at the end of each month, the top 10 lists at the bottom of the page of every week's Reader's Corner is combined to give a general idea of what our readers look for in our newspaper.Without further ado, let's jump right in.It appears that the "Turkey" category is here to stay. After dethroning "Politics" last month, it has managed to continue to sit firmly in first place in February with a total of 11 news articles to its name. There were only two sub-categories present on the list, the "İstanbul" category with two articles and "Investigations" with one. The remaining eight were only listed under Turkey.Similarly to last month, "Politics" continues to give close chase to the top spot thanks to its nine entries on the list. Only one of those lacked a sub-category, while "War on Terror" was the most popular with five news articles. "Diplomacy" on the other hand made three appearances.Third place is no longer a shared position; it seems "Life" has managed to include seven news articles to its name, and while two of them were without a sub-category, the rest were varied."History" had three articles and showed that our readers were quite interested in news articles on recent developments in archaeology and restoration in Turkey. "Travel" and "Science" both had one article included as well.Losing third place to "Life" by one entry, "Business" sits in fourth place comfortably with six news articles on the list. All of them had sub-categories with "Economy" at the forefront with three news articles. The "Tech," "Tourism" and "Defense" sub-categories had one entry each throughout the month.Fifth place was not a surprise either with "World" continuing to hold on thanks to four news articles. The sub-category "Africa" was a relatively new entry to these lists with a single news articles. "Americas" also had one article included on the list, while the "Syrian Crisis" category had two articles to its name.And finally, the last two remaining categories sit at sixth place with each possessing a single article. "Arts" continued its performance from last month, while "Sports" reappeared after a month of absence. Both had no sub-categories.While the fixtures might seem similar when compared to last month, the change is evident when it is compared to the fall season. The popularity of the events and news flow is certainly a big factor, but it is important to note that changing placement is also an indicator of the lack of stagnancy at Daily Sabah, which is certainly a positive trait.A despicable attackOn Feb. 21, correspondent Selva Ünal from our sister newspaper Sabah was assaulted at the Bangladeshi Embassy in Ankara. Türkkaya Ataöv, a Turkish professor, insulted Selva Ünal and then head-butted her.According to Mrs. Ünal, this was after the professor learned she was working for Sabah. Evidently, this was not even the result of a certain article or a story Ünal covered, not that it would be any less criminal if it was, but working for a certain media organization seems to have been enough to condemn Ünal.This is certainly a disturbing notion and the parallels to discriminative tendencies are quite apparent. The lack of coverage regarding the incident is another saddening point. Nevertheless, let us condemn this attack on our colleague while offering her our well wishes.