User:Kadri Kai/Kadri Kayabal

1938

Late Kadri Kayabal began pursuing his journalistic ambition in late 1938 when he was 18 years old. He continued to become an esteemed journalist starting in the "Haber" Newspaper. He was a prominent journalist in Bab-i Ali and was the Chief-Executive Editor for many prominent newspapers, such as Cumhuriyet, Akşam, Ulus, and Hürriyet. He also held a position on the Board of Directors at the Turkish Journalists Association (Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti) and in 1956 he won the association's grand prize for his "Great Africa" report.

1950

In 1950 Kadri Kayabal founded Turkey's first privately-owned Turkish News Agency (Türk Haberler Ajansı). THA was the first private wire and news pictures service in Turkey after the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA), which was initiated by Atatürk in 1920.

Starting from a stenciled news bulletin distributed by foot at a time when there were no teleprinters or computers, news was written on typewriters and dictated over barely audible telephone lines or sent by telegraphic dispatches using a special language called “cablese” to keep the number of words used down.

1961

Kadri Kayabal worked as the Middle East advisor at the London Express Syndicate in 1961. He also got the distribution rights of foreign press agencies such as London Express, Keystone Press, Camera Press, Press Association (UK), and United Press International (UPI), providing international news, news photos, and features to the Turkish press.

1963

THA first introduced telephoto transmissions and distributed the first in Turkey in 1963. THA became a link in UPI’s international multiplex system with 24-hour open telephone and telex lines to the worldwide news network. This was a pioneering step in the Turkish media sector that enabled the agency to communicate with UPI bureaus. Through this system, THA provided news and news pictures to newspapers in Turkey and also transmitted news and news pictures of events in this country for the international media.

1971

By the 1970s his THA (Turkish News Agency) had become Turkey’s largest privately-owned news and news pictures organization running 15 bureaus all over the country and employing more than 200 journalists and reporters. BBA pioneered in introducing new technologies in Turkey, including the 16mm camera, sound-on-film cameras and the first Fax system in Turkey.

THA’s Television Department, under Bedri Kayabal, was launched in the late 1970s providing news footage from Turkey and the Middle East to international broadcasters like ABC News, NBC, CBS, ITN, and others. Later, THA’s TV Dept. became the representative of UPITN (United Press Independent Television News), the television news provider branch of UPI, servicing news footage to broadcasters all over the world.

1975

Kadri Kayabal had a key role in creating the first “syndication” agency in Turkey by distributing his reports to daily newspapers and magazines. In 1975 he founded the ‘Politika’ newspaper together with Ercan Arıklı and İsmail Cem.