Cüneyt Özdemir (born 8 February 1970) is a Turkish journalist, television host and producer. Özdemir is the anchorman of the leading local and foreign affairs program 5N1K, broadcast on
CNN Türk
CNN Türk is a Turkish pay television news channel, launched on 11 October 1999 as the localised variant of American channel CNN. It broadcasts exclusively for Turkey and it is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Demirören Group. Its headquarte ...
Television for 20 years now.
Career
''32. Gün'' international affairs program
Özdemir started his journalism career at ''
32. Gün
''32. Gün'' ( en, 32nd Day) was a Turkish national and international television news show. Launched in 1985 by Mehmet Ali Birand, it was Turkey's longest-running and one of the most influential news programmes. The show was originally aired on ...
'' international affairs program. He worked there as the executive director of the program. 32. Gün was produced and presented by prominent Turkish journalist
Mehmet Ali Birand
Mehmet Ali Birand (9 December 1941 – 17 January 2013) was a Turkish journalist, political commentator and writer.
Biography
He was born to İzzet and his wife Mürvet on 9 December 1941 in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. His mother was of Kurdish desc ...
. In 1996, Özdemir became an international war correspondent where he has reported on major political crisis sites at many of the world's hotspots including the Lebanese-Israeli border,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. He covered numerous special stories from war zones. Özdemir was given his first major assignment covering the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. Through this position, he was able to make prominent coverages for the program. Özdemir, at his young age, gained recognition and reputation for being brave at such wars and for reporting from conflict areas.
CNN Türk
In 1999, he helped found
CNN Türk
CNN Türk is a Turkish pay television news channel, launched on 11 October 1999 as the localised variant of American channel CNN. It broadcasts exclusively for Turkey and it is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Demirören Group. Its headquarte ...
. In 2000, he founded Turkey's pioneer international news program 5N1K which takes its name from the six fundamental questions of journalism which are What (Ne), When (Ne Zaman), Where (Nerede), Why (Neden), How (Nasil) and Who (Kim). He has been producing and presenting the program 5N1K which is broadcast on CNN Türk Television for 20 years now. The program has won Turkey’s all prestigious journalism awards, at least several times.
Between years 2012 and 2013 he presented the program from The London Studios. Throughout the years, the program focused on international wars, political affairs, world cups, Olympics, fashion weeks, groundbreaking news from all over the world as well as Turkish Diplomacy and local affairs. The program has managed to combine hard news and soft news with a colorful and vivid perspective. Over the years, Özdemir has reported on major crises from many of world's hotspots including
Iraq Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Palestinian territories and Israel. He has secured exclusive interviews at such countries. He has had many memorable moments in his television career.
He went to Athens in 2004 to cover the World Olympics.
In 2006
he visited the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cubaand produced an investigative news story there.
In 2007, he followed the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm. That year, his program 5N1K was aired on CNN Türk for the 300th time.
In 2008, he went to Latin America and followed the leftist movement there. He also worked on an investigative story at Harvard University where he covered new cell practices.
In 2011, he went to Libya to follow the political chaos at the heart of the country. There, Özdemir has conducte
a groundbreaking interview with Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Seyful Islam Muammar Gaddafi
In 2014
Cüneyt Özdemir went to Gaza and Tel Aviv which are 2 different sides of the war. There he covered an exclusive story and told 2 city's stories to the world.
In 2017
Cüneyt Özdemir followed the Reza Zarrabcase in the courtroom from day one to last day.
He made live broadcasts on YouTube -in front of the court- everydayand reported last updates about the case. The world learned about the case and last updates from his exclusive live broadcasts and 5N1K program Reza Zarrab Exclusive episodes. By his Reza Zarrab news case he won Journalists Union of Turkey's TV News Program Award.
In 2019
he went to Caracas, Venezuela to follow the political-social chaos and coup attempt There, Cüneyt Özdemir made a very crucial and groundbreaking interview with Mr. Nicolas Maduro. This interview was Nicolas Maduro's first interview after the coup attempt. The world followed what's happening in Venezuela via Cüneyt Özdemir's exclusive news both from his YouTube channel and 5N1K program.
His other prominent works include interviews with
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Christiane Amanpour,
Noam Chomsky Felice Casson Gladio, Orhan Pamuk,
Zaha Hadid Liz Hurley and Hugh Jackman. Özdemir continues to cover important news stories from all over the world.
Kanal D News
On 28 October 2014, Özdemir announced he would leave CNN Türk for
Kanal D
Kanal D, also known as Channel D, is a nationwide television channel in Turkey and part of Demirören Group. It was founded by Ayhan Şahenk and Aydın Doğan in 1993.
The network also runs an international channel, Euro D which is available o ...
, where he would anchor the daily news bulletin of Kanal D. He hosted his first broadcast on 3 November 2014. On 7 August 2015, Kanal D announced Özdemir would be leaving his post as anchor of Kanal D, and returning to CNN Türk, where he had previously worked for 15 years, maintaining his role at prominent news program 5N1K.
''Radikal'' newspaper
Between years 2011 and 2014, Özdemir wrote for ''
Radikal
''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally considered ...
'' newspaper. Özdemir wrote 5 days a week at his column at ''Radikal''. He has written extensively on political affairs, global issues, pop-cultural developments, Middle East and Europe at this column.
Dipnot TV
Özdemir founded the production company DIPNOT TV in 2008. Over the years, company has produced prominent TV programs, most importantly the news program 5N1K that has been aired on CNN Türk for more than 15 years now. Özdemir has also produced ''Sağır Oda'', a popular Turkish TV series between 2006 and 2007.
DIPNOT TV Company led by Cüneyt Özdemir continues to produce TV shows and documentaries. Özdemir created new business models in publicity, media and social media projects. His company also produces corporate promotion shootings, advertisements, viral videos both for internet and TV platforms as well as social media campaigns. Over the years Özdemir's production company has worked with numerous important clients including
Akbank
Akbank T.A.Ş. is one of the largest banks in Turkey. Founded in 1948, , it had revenues of nearly TL 13.7 billion. Listed on the Borsa Istanbul, its largest shareholders are members of the Sabancı family. Akbank is a bank that offers vehicle ...
, Kalebodur,
Turkcell
Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39,3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number of ...
,
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,
Ericson,
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Efes Pilsen,
Tuborg
Tuborg is a Danish brewing company founded in 1873 on a harbour in Hellerup, an area North of Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 1970 it has been part of the Carlsberg Group. The brewery's flagship, the Tuborg pilsner, was brewed for the first time in ...
,
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
,
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
and so on.
Dipnot Production Company also undertook the production of a prominent
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
project called "We Have a Message". The company conducted this project with its partner Happy Idea and its participants TÜSEV (Turkish third sector trust) and Turk Journal. The project was carried out within the scope of civil society dialogue III/Media donation program. "We Have a Message" project aimed at ameliorating communities' perception and understanding of each other and also at increasing the participation of their citizens. The project also intended to emphasize the effects of European Union endorsements on social development with 8 short films and a documentary. Özdemir's company produced these films and documentaries.
The company is also a pioneer in terms of digital media in Turkey. Özdemir has launched Turkey's first and the widely read digital magazine Dipnot Tablet in 2009. The Digital Magazine Dipnot has been weekly published for 6 years now. The magazine's content focuses on technology, entertainment and design. The online magazine Dipnot covers politics and economics as well. Özdemir currently writes his weekly articles only for Dipnot Tablet.
YouTube
Besides his career as an anchor on Turkish Television (Kanal D & CNN Türk), he is one of the pioneers of digital media in Turkey. He continues to follow and comment on world agenda day by day from a different perspective i
his live YouTube broadcasts.
In 2017, the world followed Reza Zarrab cas
from his YouTube exclusive live broadcastsdaily.
In 2018, he presente
Turkey's presidential election programlive from his YouTube channel. Program lasted for 8 hours and was the most watched election program in Turkey with 700K views. Before the electio
he interviewed various presidential candidatesin his YouTube channel.
In 2019
he presented the real life in Venezuelaboth by reporting from the streets of Venezuela and his live broadcasts. His "Venezuela Series" followed both by Turkish people and people around the world. He also made a special interview with Nicolas Maduro. This interview was Maduro's first interview after the coup attempt. The world followed what's happening in Venezuela from Cüneyt Özdemir's YouTube videos.
In 2019
his March 2019 mayoral election programwas watched 1.7 million and lasted for 7 hours. Again this program became the most watched election program that day. He hosted th
June 2019 Istanbul mayoral election programfrom US with several guests from different parts of Turkey. This election program watched by 1M people and was the most watched election program that day.
At the end of 2019, he starte
his daily coronavirus broadcastson YouTube. He presents daily news from all around the world about the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
from a different perspective.
Personal life
Özdemir is married to Zeynep İnanoğlu. Their son was born in 2012.
His mother is of
Turkish Meskhetian origin.
Works
Documentary
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Everyone's Father Has A Story To Tell''. 2000
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Money's Adventure''. 2000
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Gold Handcuff to Water''. 2000
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Maiden's Tower Legend''. CNN Türk. 2000
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''The Man Who Last Laughed: Kemal Sunal''. 2001
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Football's Turkey Journey''. CNN Türk, 2002
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Festival''.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Love For Cars''. CNN Türk, 2002
TV series
* ''
Sağır Oda Sağır is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Nezir Sağır (born 1983), Turkish weightlifter
*Taner Sağır
Taner Sağır (born 13 March 1985 in Kardzhali, Bulgaria) is a Turkish world and Olympic weightlifting champion. Com ...
'' (The Deaf Room) producer
TV programs
* ''
32. Gün
''32. Gün'' ( en, 32nd Day) was a Turkish national and international television news show. Launched in 1985 by Mehmet Ali Birand, it was Turkey's longest-running and one of the most influential news programmes. The show was originally aired on ...
'' (32nd Day)
* ''
5N1K''
* ''Soruyorum'' (I Am Asking)
* ''
Fark Yaratanlar'' (Changemakers)
''An Extraordinary Day''
Books
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Commander's Suspicious Death, Eşref Bitlis Case''. İletişim Yayınları, 1988.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''State of Mind''. Parantez Publications, 1998.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Sound of Delusion''. Parantez Publications, 1999.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Talks Without Ratings''. Su Publications, 2000.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Maiden's Tower Legend''. Su Publications, 2001.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''I Was With Them But I Wasn't From Them''. Doğan Books, 2003.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Out Of Focus''. Yapı Kredi Publication, 2005.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Half Mind of Mine''. 40 Haramiler Yayınları, 2006.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''The Cage Of Hell''. Doğan Kitap, 2007.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Agency Of High Affairs''. Doğan Kitap, 2000.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. ''Country That Has Lost Its Joy''. Doğan Kitap, 2014.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. "A Nation Is Standing: 15 July Testimonies". Doğan Kitap, 2016.
* Özdemir, Cüneyt. "Sunflower: Words Dried By Summer Sun". Doğan Kitap, 2018.
References
External links
*
*
Cüneyt Özdemiron
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozdemir, Cuneyt
Turkish journalists
1970 births
Living people
Meskhetian Turkish people
Radikal (newspaper) people
People from Ankara
Ankara University alumni
Turkish television journalists
Turkish columnists
Turkish writers
Golden Butterfly Award winners