Dear readers of Automobile Magazine, our friends, and all stakeholders in the automotive industry,
Today, I stand before you as an editor-in-chief carrying with pride the responsibility of 15 years of hard work, integrity, and officially registered national publishing under the authority of the state. Today, I would like to talk to you about that glittering yet hollow world behind the shop windows — the world of “perception management.”
It is very easy to buy tens of thousands of fake followers on social media, to create the illusion of enormous audiences through artificial engagement, and to devote all your energy to appearances. We, too, could have taken our place on this artificial stage, where everything can be purchased in weekly packages. If we had wanted to, we could have chosen that easy path, allocated budgets from our own pockets, and filled our accounts with hundreds of thousands of purchased followers. We could have bought packages of likes and fake comments every week and played the role of a “leader” in that inflated world, decorated with perfect graphics but completely empty inside. Instead of investing our energy in genuine journalism and our website, we could have focused entirely on expanding this artificial bubble of perception and built an illusion of enormous influence through YouTube projects. And we know very well that doing all of this is as simple and easy as paying the money and purchasing weekly packages.
But we wanted to be able to look in the mirror without feeling ashamed. We did not deceive ourselves, and we did not deceive you.
Why did we choose not to do it?
First, we have no need to deceive ourselves or you, the people who follow us. Second, and most importantly, we believe that no legitimate work can be built on deception and manufactured perceptions; that such artificiality is not worth investing one’s efforts in; and that earning one’s livelihood through such methods cannot be considered honest or honorable. We have always stood on the side of truth and hard work.
There is another side to the story.
Certain long-established PR agencies in the industry, their founders, and some old association structures behind them have, for years, been presenting inflated “fake reports” that attempt to glorify organizations that have little or nothing to do with the industry today, or whose relevance and genuine readership have long since disappeared. These structures, which seem to have made it their mission to mislead the corporate management of automotive brands, have for years attempted to ignore our officially registered national publication under the authority of Ankara and the Turkish state, while trying to discredit and belittle us in the eyes of brands through every possible means. Within the artificial system they have created, they seek to silence those who speak the truth.
Moreover, this distorted system is not limited to fabricated reports on paper.
We have watched with dismay how some of these organizations, which certain PR agency executives have treated with great favor for years under the guise of being “friends” and “close associates,” have used the press test vehicles allocated to them.
We have witnessed individuals violating fundamental principles of press and publishing ethics by using these test vehicles for commercial gain — including for unauthorized transportation or passenger-carrying applications, or even transporting passengers at certain agencies in exchange for financial benefits. We have seen vehicles being handed over to spouses, friends, acquaintances, and neighbors for days of personal and unauthorized use. We have seen vehicles returned excessively worn, with pets lying on the seats and without even being properly cleaned. Over the years, we have personally experienced how these vehicles were subsequently handed over to us after all these irregularities and abuses.
And do you know what the most tragicomic part of all this is?
While the individuals who caused these damages to the industry and to the brands acted as though they had done nothing wrong, they spent years attempting to discredit us and our publication through baseless rumors — even though we have practiced our profession honestly and have never been involved in any of these irregularities.
They repeatedly spoke of every disgrace they themselves had committed as though we were the ones responsible.
Yet they have forgotten something very important:
We know very well both those who wrote this theater and those who performed in it.
Let me state this very clearly: We know, one by one and name by name, who is doing business with whom, and what schemes have been established to mislead the corporate management of automotive brands.
I am speaking here as the founder, owner, and executive of three different national magazines that have shaped the industry — 4x4SuperSport, WorldCars Magazine, and Automobile Magazine — and as someone who has come from the world of print publishing in the Turkish automotive industry for more than 20 years.
I have been in the heart of this business for more than two decades. In 1995, I studied at Marmara University’s Vocational School of Technical Sciences, in what was then called the Printing Department, now known as Printing and Publishing Technologies. Having worked at every stage of this industry and now serving as the executive of a media company, I must also explain the most troubling picture on the other side of the coin.
We have seen certain individuals who have no genuine knowledge or professional experience whatsoever in print or digital publishing hastily launch a website and, through “friends-and-associates” relationships, become registered with the aforementioned association at the time.
Sadly, these individuals, whose professional backgrounds have little or nothing to do with our profession, are today serving as jurors and casting votes in various industry polls and award processes organized within the Turkish automotive sector.
And they did not stop there.
They established structures that constantly harass brands and agencies over advertising opportunities and engage in behavior that is entirely contrary to professional press ethics. By attempting to manipulate professionals like us — people who have earned their living exclusively from this profession and who have genuinely come from the heart of the industry — against agencies, they have created a damaging perception of the sector in the eyes of advertisers, thereby obtaining and continuing to obtain unfair financial gains.
Again, over the past 15 years, we have witnessed certain individuals — regardless of whether they are men or women — who have absolutely no meaningful connection to the automotive industry simply open a YouTube channel or an Instagram account and, quite ridiculously, declare themselves to be “automotive media.”
Being a member of the press has unfortunately been reduced to something this simplistic.
Based on what I personally know, have seen, and observed, many of these people are figures who understand virtually nothing about automobiles and who have learned how to drive only through the test vehicles allocated to them.
Without possessing any meaningful depth of knowledge about the automotive industry, they participate in voting processes based on commercial expectations that are incompatible with industry ethics. The painful reality is that brands sometimes actually need these individuals’ votes.
There are even individuals who, despite not understanding how to properly operate or evaluate a vehicle themselves, have their spouses or neighbors conduct automobile test drives simply because they are women, and then publish those reviews on their websites.
This is the miserable state to which certain individuals have unfortunately reduced automotive media in Türkiye.
So once again, we must ask:
Through which agencies are these individuals conducting their activities without any meaningful oversight or verification? Do they have officially registered business entities under their own names? Do they have legitimate financial and tax structures?
I sincerely believe that these matters must also be investigated.
Because if these individuals are obtaining financial benefits from our industry through websites they have established by claiming, “We are the press,” then surely those who have been working for years with major corporate companies and international agencies and generating income from these activities should have officially registered business structures.
This matter must be examined thoroughly from both a legal and financial perspective.
Have we, for more than 20 years, been paying office rents, taxes, and all other official expenses in our own names for no reason?
Have we been investing every single penny we earn back into the institutional structure of these state-registered publications for no reason?
Today, just as we have for the past 15 years, we stand not behind perception, but behind truth; not behind inflated illusions, but behind officially registered national journalism.
We have been fighting for our livelihood for years, across the world and in every possible field, against every kind of structure and system. And we will continue to do so.
So, which would you choose?
The truth — or perceptions purchased with money?
Umut Özgür Sunay
