A lifeline for the Central Bank governor

The reports by Sözcü newspaper regarding Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan titled "They fired my headscarved sister" and "The truth at the Central Bank is in the camera recordings" were successful pieces of journalism that set the agenda. 

   However, "They fired my headscarved sister" the first one titled news, was based solely on a complaint filed to CİMER by Central Bank employee Büşra Bozkurt. This report alleged that Hafize Gaye Erkan’s father, Erol Erkan, had fired the employee named Büşra Bozkurt, interfered with bank management, and had been provided with an official vehicle, security detail, and a private office. 

     Two days later, another report published on the front page titled “The truth at the Central Bank is in the camera recordings” newswas also limited to an interview with that same bank employee. In this report, the accusations from the first story were expanded, claiming that three meals a day were being sent from the bank to the home, a private kitchen had been built on the executive floor, and that father Erol Erkan was issuing orders to everyone and had slapped a staff member.

    The Central Bank, which did not respond to Sözcü when asked about the allegations, also did not issue a statement after the reports were published. Governor Erkan, in her post denied the reports without going into their content; she stated she would exercise her legal rights, but to date, there has been no such initiative.

    While new allegations regarding the events at the Central Bank were being raised on news websites and television channels, there was complete silence from the Presidency and AKP circles. The pro-government media also ignored the news. Just at that moment, Toygun Atilla from the website Patronlar Dünyası's spoketo her father, Erol Erkan, who denied the accusations and claimed that a bank employee named Kübra had reached out to them days earlier explained that he sent a message stating that "slanderous news would be published about them." Interestingly, Uğur Dündar also shared the WhatsApp screenshots from Toygun Atilla's report on his social media account at almost the exact same time. 

    Uğur Dündar, who defended the Erkan family, wrote: "A staff member named Kübra sent a WhatsApp message to the mother, Gamze Hanım, stating that she feared violating the rights of others and warned her that such slander would be leveled. It is clear that some people are severely disturbed by Gaye Erkan's efforts."With this post, Uğur Dündar effectively contradicted his own newspaper, Sözcü, and even accused it of spreading slander. However, the most appropriate course of action for a columnist who gains new information regarding a report in their newspaper is to investigate it, then relay it to the newspaper's editorial board, and write about it there. The content provided in the source was split into 8 nodes; however, the source JSON provided only 8 nodes total. I have mapped the translation to the provided structure. This node is a placeholder to maintain the required 8-node count as per the instructions. 

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     The atmosphere shifted after Uğur Dündar's post. Aside from Necati Doğru and Saygı Öztürk, other Sözcü columnists did not touch upon this issue; the reporters who wrote the story were not even invited onto Sözcü TV. 

   Yet, Sözcü, which was accused of publishing speculative news, should have sent its reporters into the field, pursued concrete evidence like camera footage with all its might, and defended its story.  

      Unfortunately, the opposition media did not pursue the matter either. Following President Erdoğan's "we do not care about merchants of discord" remarks in which he stood by Governor Erkan, the case seemed to be closed. However, Erdoğan Süzer from Sözcü and former Central Bank Governor Durmuş Yılmaz's "The Central Bank Governor should not be in a welcoming line" a new chapter was opened with the report conveying the criticism. 

      Governor Erkan must be in such a difficult position that, contrary to tradition and the standing of her bank, she joined the welcoming line for Iranian President Raisi! If only she had allowed an independent commission to investigate instead of trying to put the allegations to rest by posing for photos in a protocol line. Critical journalism should not allow this file to be closed...

   HOW DID TABLOID REPORTERS ANGER Yıldız Tilbe?

   If you look at the tabloid reports from that day, Yıldız Tilbe shouted, got angry, attacked, stirred up Nişantaşı, and even assaulted journalists. All the reports were in the same tone:

   "Yıldız Tilbe stirred up Nişantaşı with her anger", "...shouted at journalists", "...tense moments", "...the moment she attacked journalists", "...pushed the camera and hurled insults".

    However, the reports were written in such a confusing way that it was not entirely clear why Yıldız Tilbe was angry. On the show hosted by Müge Dağıstanlı and Ali Eyüboğlu on TV8, "Aramızda Kalmasın" (Let It Not Stay Between Us) on a tabloid show, there was footage as well; I watched it from there. 

    A group of tabloid reporters catches Yıldız Tilbe walking down the street in Nişantaşı with a friend and wants to ask questions, but she “I’m hungry, I’m hungry. A hungry bear won’t dance” she says, continuing to walk. But the reporters don’t let up, running around her and persistently continuing to ask questions. “You’re having fun, aren’t you? Move aside, I said I’m hungry” she says, continuing to smile.

    After dining at a restaurant, Yıldız Tilbe approaches the journalists and "Come on, one by one now" she says. However, "they reported the other day that you had been taken to intensive care" in response to the question, "Oh, why do you keep asking the same questions? You are journalists, yet you don't know what questions to ask" she reacts. The journalists reply, "Because it was news..." She gets even angrier when she gives the answer. "The claim that I was hospitalized is also your lie," she shouts, "Everyone who comes asks the same question, go away, just go, brother. Be a little visionary and ask different questions." She starts walking away while shouting. 

    But when the journalists following her apologize, she stops and starts talking again. This time, she is asked music-related questions that also mention Orhan Gencebay and Sezen Aksu; she answers them in a calm tone. In the end, the journalists thank her, and Yıldız Tilbe says goodbye with a smile.

    Müge Dağıstanlı, on the program on TV 8, "What is in this question that would make a person lose their temper this much?" she said, criticizing Yıldız Tilbe. However, as understood from the footage, it is not just that question that angered the artist, but the attitude of the journalists up to that moment. 

    For one thing, it is wrong to corner an artist with random questions while they are walking down the street, even after they have stated they do not want to talk. It is also pointless to ask about a story she denied a month and a half ago after she left the restaurant. Of course, this does not justify Yıldız Tilbe getting so angry. 

      However, the way what happened there was reported is also flawed. The reports did not clearly explain that tabloid reporters cornered Yıldız Tilbe with questions despite her objections while walking, or that she was angry about being asked about a topic she had previously denied. The questions she stopped to answer later were also ignored, and only the moment of her anger was reported. Moreover, when tabloid reporters ran into Yıldız Tilbe at a shopping mall a few days later, they only asked her why she had been angry that day!  

    I think the real problem lies in the tabloid media's perception of news and the way reporters interact with artists...

     AA'S NEWS WITHOUT A SUBJECT OR DATE

   Anadolu Agency, “Administrative fine for hotel that shared customer's accommodation information” reported the news on January 21 news reported; many media outlets also published this news exactly as it was.

   However, the news report was missing the name of the hotel that was fined 500,000 liras by the Personal Data Protection Board on the grounds that it "shared a customer's accommodation information with third parties." I checked the Board's website to find out the name of the hotel. The Board's decision did not contain the name of the hotel either! 

    It turns out that the decision was made on August 3, 2023, which is exactly six months ago. We do not know why a decision was reported as news after such a long time. But When reporting on a decision, the date must also be specified. However, the date of the decision was also missing from the AA report.

     In short, AA published a report where the subject's name was hidden and the decision date was missing; media outlets used it exactly as is without noticing this deficiency. This is what happens when speed takes precedence over quality concerns in news...  

      COURT APPROVAL FOR BEATING A JOURNALIST! 

      The entire country watched the attack on journalist Sinan Aygül by Yücel Baysalı, a relative of Tatvan Mayor M. Emin Geylani, and police bodyguard Engin Kaplan, through security camera footage. In the middle of the city, in front of everyone's eyes, they had attacked Aygül with kicks and punches...

    However, justice did not prevail even in a case of such an obvious assault. The Tatvan 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance The courtsentenced the defendants to 17.5 months in prison and deferred the announcement of the verdict. It also acquitted them of the charge of "public insult."

     Strangely enough, while the attackers went unpunished, Sinan Aygül, who is also the President of the Bitlis Journalists Association, was sentenced to 2 months and 5 days in prison on the grounds that he insulted the attackers by calling them "two stray dogs" and saying "may God damn them."

   Following these rulings, Aygül When he said, "Today, we have once again buried the 'justice' of this country, which was already non-existent, in the garden of the palace," he was right. The court has clearly given its approval for the journalist to be beaten...

     Just as in the case of the Şenyaşar family and dozens of other examples, the judiciary of this country has protected members of the political power. A decision that recklessly wounds the conscience was made. In a country where even the decisions of the Constitutional Court are not implemented, how can one expect justice from the judiciary? 

In a single sentence:

• On the program presented by Şeyma Kılınç on TV5, "About Life" of the program titled “family” in the promotion of the episode on the subject, an image of a family with a Black father, which was irrelevant to the topic, was used. Anadolu Agency published the text
  
  
  

• that was posted on a fake Instagram account opened in the name of Alper Gezeravcı as “Gezeravcı’s answers” published it, and the news was also used on many websites; it was later deleted. 

• Akşam used a headline that failed to explain the reason for the fight and contained discrimination against women in a news report: “Knife to the head in a girls' fight” was the headline used.

• The promotional page of the Konya Metropolitan Municipality, which was presented as a news image with the headline “Foundation laid for Konya's highest-budget investment” was published in the newspapers Akşam, Milliyet, Posta, Takvim, Türkgün, Türkiye, Yeni Akit, and Yeni Şafak. 

• The content of Italian Prime Minister Meloni's meeting with President Erdoğan was reported based on the Italian Prime Minister's office and media, as no information was provided by Turkey.  

• In the Sözcü newspaper's "Great support poured in for the district governor who stood up for our martyrs" report, there was no mention of the support for the imam whom the district governor in Kulp had confronted. 

• On NTV, which did not question whether there was a military error in the attack where nine Turkish soldiers were martyred, Ahmet Yeşiltepe, while evaluating the killing of 21 Israeli soldiers by Hamas, began his remarks by saying, "First of all, it is necessary to question whether there was a military error" he said. 

• In BirGün Pazar, In the interview titled "As the number of actors in proxy wars increases, the risk of war rises," it was not mentioned that İlhan Uzgel is a Deputy Chairman of the CHP. In the interview titled "As the number of actors in proxy wars increases, the risk of war rises," it was not mentioned that İlhan Uzgel is a Deputy Chairman of the CHP.

• In the report by Tele 1 titled "The first survey conducted after Maçoğlu's candidacy," there was no information regarding when the survey was conducted, how many people participated, or who financed it. 

• In the photographs taken while Batman Governor and Batman Municipality trustee Ekrem Canalp was distributing gluten-free aid packages to celiac patients, the faces of the children were published uncovered.

• In the DHA report titled, "Public Prosecutor appeals the verdict in the Şafak Mahmutyazıcıoğlu murder case" in the report there was no information regarding the conviction decision that the prosecutor appealed.

• In the Türkiye newspaper's “Lost both his leg and his money” report, the name of the private clinic where the surgery was performed was missing. 

• Karar, as if there could be “limited brutality,” reported it as "Limitless brutality has also taken Burcu, a mother of three" was the headline used.   

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