MASAK-related responses to Buğra Gökçe

Journalist Altan Sancar was among those whose testimony was taken as part of the CHP Congress investigation. When asked about witness Tolgahan Erdoğan's claim that "I heard that a vehicle belonging to the Beşiktaş Municipality was allocated to Altan Sancar," Sancar responded as follows:

"No vehicle has been allocated to me by any institution. The only vehicle belonging to a municipality that I have used to date is the municipal bus."

Following this response and the media coverage of Sancar's testimony, Doç. Dr. Buğra Gökçe, the General Manager of the Istanbul Planning Agency who is currently under arrest, made a post that began: "Dear Media Ombudsman @farukbildirici, unfortunately, I learned that a colleague of yours, a young friend of yours, @altansancarr, has been called to testify based on hypothetical accusations." Gökçe directed the following questions to me, in summary:

"Is it acceptable for newspapers, television stations, and media organizations to present as 'material truth' the statements of people who cast suspicion on others by burdening them with accusations based on 'I heard,' 'I had heard,' or 'I think,' without presenting any concrete information or documents?

Unfortunately, we are also deprived of our freedom due to allegations such as 'I heard,' 'I had heard,' 'I heard from someone who heard,' or 'I think.' In your opinion, should the press handle this situation in terms of constitutional rights such as human rights, freedoms, and the rule of law, or should it attribute seriousness to the slanders of certain people who 'hear,' 'hear from those who hear,' or 'think,' and expect explanations from innocent people?"

The answers to these questions are very clear. Of course, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution; no one can be forced to try to prove their own innocence. Journalists should not act as intermediaries for people to be subjected to accusations not based on concrete evidence, nor should they pave the way for such things or act like the prosecution.

However, after the operation targeting Ekrem İmamoğlu and his circle on March 19, journalism that acts like a prosecutor or judge came to the fore in the pro-government media. Buğra Gökçe is also one of the names subjected to the accusations of this journalism that attempts to act as a prosecutor. Cem Küçük was able to say exactly this about Buğra Gökçe on TGRT Haber:

"If you make parallel statements of your own outside of the figures given by the state, you get packed up like this. I hope they have come to their senses."

Although these words of Cem Küçük led Buğra Gökçe to write, "I understand that my crime was: sharing information, enlightening," a journalist can never speak with words like "you get packed up" or with a condescending attitude like "I hope they have come to their senses"; they cannot be a party to an investigation.

Trial by media for journalists

Cem Küçük has been acting like the media branch of the prosecutor's office since the beginning of the operation. In his article titled "Journalists on the payroll of the IMM must speak!", he cast suspicion on the journalists whose names he listed:

"The MASAK report has documented the money traffic of some journalists. Many journalists have entered the scope of the prosecutor's investigation, and their information may also be sought.

... It is the public's right to know which municipality's vehicle the mentioned journalists used. The mentioned journalists and more have entered the scope of the prosecutor's investigation."

However, there is no concrete data regarding most of the journalists whose names he listed. He does not state how the names of Halk TV owner Cafer Mahiroğlu and journalists Altan Sancar, Şaban Sevinç, and İsmail Saymaz appear in the MASAK report regarding the CHP Congress.

I also looked at the report to see if any evidence of a crime had been found against these journalists. No, there is none; moreover, the conclusion section of the report states, "(the money transfers between the individuals reported by the prosecutor's office) have been checked, but no record of any money transfer has been encountered."

According to the report; during the period examined, 8 million 196 thousand TL was deposited into İsmail Saymaz's account, 521 thousand 732 TL into Şaban Sevinç's account, and 50 thousand liras into Altan Sancar's account. Şaban Sevinç stated that this money was "the rental income of their house in Ankara that accumulated in his wife's account," and Altan Sancar stated that it was "an advertising payment received by the Politik Yol website, of which he is the manager."

İsmail Saymaz, recalling that he moved from Sözcü TV to Halk TV during the period when that money was deposited, pointed out that the report shows the same amount of money leaving the account of Halk TV owner Cafer Mahiroğlu on the same day. Cafer Mahiroğlu is also a businessman; he said, "It would be surprising if there were no high-amount money movements in my bank accounts, not if there were."

In any case, there is no information in the MASAK report that this money was deposited by the CHP or the IMM. Yet, what was the accusation leveled by Cem Küçük and the pro-government media? That they worked to influence the CHP congress where Özgür Özel was elected chairman and received money in return...

What is sad is that without any evidence, based only on the statements of two people, they were included in the investigation without even having their information sought, and their account movements and assets months after the congress were examined and they were portrayed as if they were guilty...

These friends of ours were subjected to a trial by media carried out by the hands of "journalism" and the "judiciary"...

Is our job to create cacophony?

After the earthquakes in Istanbul, a complete cacophony occurred again; none of the predictions of the experts who appeared on screens and made statements match each other; they all contradict one another.

However, our job is to provide information and enlighten people. But bringing so many scientists onto the screen does not result in providing information; on the contrary, it confuses people even more. In fact, not only earthquake experts but also irrelevant people can be brought onto TV as if they were experts. Even a medical doctor like Oytun Erbaş was made to talk about fault lines and earthquakes on Beyaz TV.

We cannot escape the responsibility of creating such chaos by blaming the scientists who speak (and sometimes turn into showmen). We have to think about it. Of course, it is not up to journalists to measure which expert is telling the truth, but there must be a way to do this.

Instead of letting every expert we find speak, we should consider publishing only institutional statements and reports from scientific boards. In addition, we should take into account the competencies of the experts whose opinions we will seek, as well as the accuracy of their previous statements and predictions. We must be more selective and more careful.

Since Turkey is a country of earthquakes, we must keep the preparation for earthquakes and disasters constantly on the agenda; we must permanently create "earthquake and disaster" pages and programs. We should not remember earthquakes only after disasters, like the administrators of this country.

We must constantly monitor all relevant experts, authorities, boards, and institutions, not only after earthquakes but also before them, and we must not deprive them of the contribution of criticism.

There can be no right to insult

I had criticized journalist Fuat Uğur's post about Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş as "sexist expressions that push the boundaries of journalism quite a bit."

However, I realized that one side of the incident was missing in that article last week. After Uğur's post, there were those who showered him with insults on social media as well. This was not right either.

Just as a journalist cannot have the right to insult or humiliate anyone, others cannot have the right to insult him or use aggressive expressions. We should be able to discuss ideas without insulting, and we should be able to criticize without insulting.

In one sentence:

-Nefes compared the journalists watching the CHP rally in Yozgat from a pickup truck with those watching President Erdoğan, reporting it similarly as "Journalism in a pickup truck/Journalism on a plane," while Sözcü reported it as "Running journalists, flying journalists."

-BirGün and Cumhuriyet distorted the originality of farmer Abdullah Ceylan's words at the CHP's Yozgat rally, "Turpunan şalgamınan devlet idare edilmez" (The state cannot be governed with radishes and turnips), by correcting it to "Turp ile şalgam ile devlet idare edilmez."

-Akif Bülbül in Türkiye newspaper used hate speech with his article "Yalan dolan işte Yunan" (Lies and deceit, that's the Greek).

-In Sabah's news titled "'Dubious congress' inquiry for Kılıçdaroğlu's private secretary," the surname of Halk TV Chairman of the Board Cafer Mahiroğlu was written as "Caferoğlu."

-Sabah, which accused İmamoğlu's advisor Necati Özkan of taking bribes with the headline "Same tactic in bribery," did not publish Özkan's explanation that he bought the apartments in question with his own savings.

-DHA wrote the word "istinaden" (based on/justification) instead of "istisna" (exception) in the sentence of the First President of the Court of Cassation, Ahmet Ömeroğlu, "(Arrests) must be applied exceptionally."

-In Hürriyet's news, "27 people whose diplomas were canceled were called to testify," the information that the decision to cancel the diploma had not yet been notified to Ekrem İmamoğlu was missing.

-In Türkiye's news, "Millet gardens became shelters," "kameliye" was said instead of "kameriye" (gazebo).

-Three lawyers, who were targeted days ago by Yeni Şafak's news "CHP deputies became couriers" and "Mole suspicion," were detained.

-It was wrong for Korkusuz to say "seized" in the news "Egyptian snake came out of the stopped vehicle"; it was sufficient to say "found."

-Hürriyet used the news "Homo Sapiens survived with sunscreen" with a delay, three days after it was published on social media and news sites.

-In the news "Missing pilot found dead," Cumhuriyet described the suicide method in detail without considering its contagious nature.

-Publishing the Ankara Governor's Office's statement with the headlines "They said woman, it turned out to be a man" and "Ekrem's bra-wearing supporter turned out to be a man," Yeni Akit engaged in discrimination and justified the police's disproportionate violence.

-Ignoring that President Erdoğan also published an Easter message, Yeni Akit displayed a new example of double standards by writing "They are friends with the crusaders, enemies to Muslims" for the CHP's Easter messages.

-Yeni Şafak writer Ali Saydam, in his article "Oh West, you who make goblets from human skulls," said "a university in England" instead of stating that the event took place at Oxford University.

-While Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat was going to Japan to hold meetings, he took a group of journalists with him, including reporters from Hürriyet, Milliyet, and Türkiye.

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