Rüstem Batum

Rüstem Batum trained for the camera before he stood in front of one. He studied film, television, directing and production in Belgium, took two years of studio photography at UCLA, and while still a student reported from abroad for the newspaper Cumhuriyet. He then spent five years in the United States as a photographer for Sipa Press, and later set up his own advertising company, where he produced and directed a long list of commercials.

His first stand-up performance came in 1989, and in 1996 he wrote and staged the stand-up text Hâlâmın Stand-Up'ları. Turkish audiences got to know him nationally in 1990 through a talk show on Magic Box, the first private television channel in the country. The programme continued as Rüstem Batum Show once Show TV was founded, and he later made the debate programme Rüstem Batum'la 360 Derece on Kanal D, then prepared and presented Rüstem Batum'la Söylenmeyenler on the news channel SkyTürk between 2004 and 2006.

Writing runs alongside the rest. His Milliyet columns were collected in the book Rugan Ayakkabılı Hipopotam in 1992, and in 2014 he published the political crime novel Tek under the pen name Hakan Nordik. In 2004 the Çağdaş Gazeteciler Derneği honoured him with its Mahmut Tali Öngören award.