Candidate polishing television journalism

The standards in television interviews have completely gone off the rails. Instead of introducing candidates to voters with both their positive and negative aspects and informing the public, programs are now being organized to 'polish' mayoral candidates. And they do it without any hesitation, without even feeling the need to hide it...

It is also well known that a large portion of these programs are paid for. You look at a TV channel and see a district candidate who is not on the agenda and whose name is unheard of, being given long stretches of airtime. Even an independent candidate for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, who is clearly only going to receive a handful of votes, can be a guest on a news channel program. 

The screen doesn't say 'Sponsored program,' but the media and political circles know that hundreds of thousands of liras are paid to appear on these shows. This is the case in opposition media as well...

Let's come to the Murat Kurum programon Habertürk. I cannot say that this program, hosted by M. Akif Ersoy, was paid for; I do not know. But one thing is clear, in the program where Orhan Gencebay and Aslı Şafak were also guests, the aim was to polish Murat Kurum through non-political conversation. 

Let me give an example regarding the style; Ersoy asked whether he had been mischievous in his childhood. Kurum, “If we call it mischief, I didn't have a driver's license, but I knew how to drive. One day in Ankara, I was driving the car…” was saying, when Ersoy, “You wouldn't have done that” interrupted; she did not question him about driving without a license. It is not a journalist's job to coach a politician or cover up their mistakes. 

The real mistake of Habertürk was that while they hosted Murat Kurum in a program where non-political topics like his childhood and military service were discussed, they discussed politics and municipal management with his rival, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Questioning İmamoğlu was correct, but while he was being scrutinized with those questions, presenting Kurum in a friendly, lighthearted program was unbalanced and unequal broadcasting.

Furthermore, it was also noteworthy that Habertürk, which had previously imposed an embargo by stating that they would not invite those who do not view the PKK as a terrorist organization to their programs,invited DEM's Istanbul candidate Meral Danış Beştaş to a program. Just as they announced the embargo, they should have also explained the reason for lifting it. What happened that they felt the need to lift the embargo? And this time, it is not M. Akif Ersoy who should answer this question, but the channel's management... PHOTOSHOPPED PHOTOS OF PUBLIC FIGURES SHOULD BE REJECTED

What happened when it was revealed that a photo of Princess Kate Middleton and her three children, shared on the Kensington Palace social media accounts in the UK, had been 'manipulated'?

Princess Middleton apologized, stating that she had edited the photo herself. Furthermore, 

the incident sparked a major debate about the ethics of digital manipulation in media. News and photo services such as Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and Getty Images removed the manipulated photograph from circulation.

During the same period in Turkey, two unedited, original photos were accidentally mixed in with concert photos of artist Gülben Ergen that had been digitally altered before being sent to the media. This incident was reported in a few places as “Gülben Ergen’s Photoshop incident” but no one even dwelled on it; it was accepted as natural. 

Because for years, photos of artists at concerts, events, and even interviews have mostly not been taken by photojournalists. Either the artists have them taken and send them themselves, or the photos are taken in a studio. Our media is aware that the photos are manipulated with computer programs, yet they remain silent; they act as intermediaries in deceiving readers and viewers. 

The Kate Middleton manipulated photo incident should serve as an example for the Turkish media as well. Just as international agencies there removed the photo that altered the truth from circulation, our media should not accept photos of artists that have been tampered with...

SECURITY LIMITATIONS ON “TALKING HEADS” 

The Ministry of National Defense is reportedly uncomfortable with "talking head" programs and has begun preparing a regulation to prevent military issues from being discussed on television. Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler explained this during a chat with Ankara representatives of accredited media as follows explained:

"We do not find it appropriate for military issues, especially operations, to be discussed or debated on TV in a way that confuses our public. We are working on a regulation."

It seems that none of the journalists present asked Yaşar Güler what kind of regulation would be implemented. They also did not ask who would decide which program is "confusing" or whether the Ministry would appoint speakers for military programs.   

"Talking head" programs do indeed feature people who are not security experts speaking on military matters, and irrelevant individuals are often asked to provide assessments on operations. However, this problem applies to all topics. We also witness security experts making grand statements on foreign policy and sports commentators opining on politics. There is complete chaos in those programs. 

However, the way to prevent this chaos is not to be eager for legal regulations, restrictions, or censorship. "Talking head" programs can be changed by creating viewer pressure and by talking, meeting, and debating with TV executives without harming freedom of expression. 

"THEY ARE COATING THEM IN OIL AND DIPPING THEM IN HONEY"

Hürriyet columnist Abdülkadir Selvi, under the headline "Praising in the opposition media" wrote, "Because they supported Erdoğan in the last elections, the opposition media was against the New Welfare Party (YRP). In these elections, because they have turned into a party that makes the AK Party lose, they are coating the YRP in oil and dipping them in honey." This is certainly an accurate observation. 

The opposition media is now praising the YRP—which it criticized and occasionally accused in the last election—to the skies in its news and programs. Of course, the approach to the YRP should not have been determined by its stance against the AKP. What was done was a journalistic error. 

However, now the pro-government media is doing the exact opposite; they were showering the YRP and Fatih Erbakan, who supported the AKP in the last election, with praise. They kept writing that he was a great politician. Once he stopped supporting the AKP, they declared him a 'FETÖ member,' called him a blackmailer, and even a 'Zübük politician' (a term for a corrupt, opportunistic politician). 

For example, Yeni Şafak, in a full-page headline, 'They let FETÖ into the party' it wrote. Sabah published reports against YRP candidates. Pro-government columnists lined up to accuse Fatih Erbakan and the YRP. Even a YRP campaign vehicle was shot at in Istanbul's Arnavutköy district. This attack was not even reported in the pro-government media, and certainly not in Hürriyet. 

Now Selvi is ignoring even his own newspaper and accusing the opposition media! When criticizing someone, it is essential that you are not committing the same mistake yourself... 

 THEY CONFUSED YSP WITH DEM 

Sabah's, "The final act in the dirty alliance" titled report stated that "DEM Co-Spokesperson Ahmet Asen requested support for CHP's Mersin Toroslar district mayoral candidate Abdurrahman Yıldız." The same expression appeared in Aydınlık newspaper's "Scandalous post from CHP's DEM-affiliated candidate" report. was included. In both newspapers, this statement was presented as one of the proofs that the CHP had formed an alliance with the DEM Party.

The first error in these reports is that Ahmet Asena's surname is written as "Asen" in both articles. The second error is that Ahmet Asena is the Co-Spokesperson of the Green Left Party, not the DEM Party.

Sabah and Aydınlık may not know this, but the Green Left Party, for which Asena is the Co-Spokesperson, is not the same party as the "Greens and Left Future Party," which changed its abbreviated name to "DEM." That party changed its name to HEDEP at the congress on October 15, 2023, and later became DEM. 

The Green Left Party, on the other hand, was founded on November 16, 2023. The party's co-spokespersons are Didem Betül Göçer and Ahmet Asena. The party's short name is also YSP. They have made statements regarding the reports in Sabah and Aydınlık, but they have not been corrected at all. Let me also issue a warning...

In a single sentence:

• Yeniçağ not only failed to report on the stabbing of the newspaper's owner, Ahmet Çelik, by his brother and the newspaper's board chairman, Kemal Çelik, but also failed to provide any explanation to its readers. 

• In the reports by AA, DHA, Akşam, Habertürk, NTV, Milliyet, Türkiye, and Odatv regarding the news that 'Traffic accident turns out to be a murder,' the information that the victim, Eyüp Aslantürk, was the AKP Kayseri Develi District Deputy Chairman was missing. 

• Akşam (Karatay), Milliyet (Bursa), Sabah (Konya/Bursa), Posta (Konya), Yeni Şafak (Konya), Türkgün (Niğde/Bursa), Türkiye (Bursa), and Yeni Şafak (Konya/Bağcılar) published full-page promotional content disguised as news for these municipalities. 

• Karar published a photograph of the bloodied face of a Palestinian child injured in Gaza without considering the traumatic impact it would have on people. 

• Türkiye, '2.5 years in prison for the person who kicked cat Eros to death' omitted the fact that a sentence reduction was applied to the defendant İbrahim Keloğlan in its report. 

• Milliyet, on its economy page, “…focusing on sustainable growth in the pharmaceutical sector” published the text under this headline as if it were a news report, without including a disclaimer that it was an advertisement.

• The remarks made by MHP's Ordu Çamaş mayoral candidate Mahmut Ayparçası to a female CHP candidate, to a female CHP candidate, “You are hugging everyone you see. Is this in our faith?” which were discriminatory, sexist, and insulting, failed to make it into the pro-government media.

• Sözcü's "Çağla Şıkel served as a wedding witness for her sister alongside her ex-boyfriend" headline confused who was marrying whom, but it was Şıkel's sister who got married; Şıkel and her ex-boyfriend were the witnesses.

• In ANKA's "Statement from MHP member Uysal's lawyer regarding 'Serbian citizenship' : It is in accordance with the law" report, the lawyer's name was missing. 

• In the reports by Evrensel, Gazete Duvar, and Gazete Pencere, “Defendant's relatives attacked the journalist” the failure to state the full name of the defendant S.Y., who is being tried on charges of sexual abuse, was a deficiency, and writing the court name as “Tunceli Courthouse 2nd High Criminal Court” was an error.

• While Sabah did not report on the rating agency Fitch when it downgraded the rating, it announced the change of Turkey's outlook from stable to positive by saying “They could not remain indifferent to our success” as the headline.

• Pro-government newspapers did not report on the 1.60 TL increase per liter of gasoline and the 1.25 TL increase per liter of diesel.  

• Turkcell's event last month in Barcelona Ersin Çelik, one of the journalists taken to the "Mobile World Congress",praised Turkcell's Ramadan commercial in his column in Yeni Şafak.