Could the 'Newborn Gang' not be baby killers?

Recall the news reports that we journalists labeled the “Newborn Gang.” The doctors and nurses under investigation were branded as “baby killers”; it was reported and written that they deliberately turned a blind eye to the deaths of infants just to earn more money.

In those reports, there was not the slightest hesitation regarding the possibility that all or some of the doctors and healthcare personnel might be innocent. The reports were constructed in the language of a verdict.

Unfortunately, in many investigation and judicial reports in recent years, the principle that “a suspect or defendant should not be declared guilty until a judicial decision is finalized” is ignored. Furthermore, there is no avoidance of “news and commentary that undermines or directs investigations.”

Moreover, extensive coverage is provided at the initial stage of an investigation, and people are stigmatized, but then the cases are not followed with the same care. Sometimes, they are not followed at all. However, if there are different developments regarding the people labeled as guilty, or if different judicial decisions emerge, it is mandatory to announce them to the public, both for the sake of follow-up and to correct false perceptions.

Unfortunately, the “Newborn Gang” case, like many cases that are “mediatic” at the beginning, is not being followed continuously; journalists have lost interest in the case. Even the suicide of Dr. İlker Gönen, who was the number two defendant in the case, was not dwelled upon sufficiently.

Apart from the hearing and release reports in the Anadolu Agency and some newspapers and television channels, I only see detailed and different reports by Büşra Cebeci in the Karar newspaper. Cebeci’s last two reports were also valuable in the name of objective and fair journalism. In her report on June 26 titled “It was not hunger but lack of money that killed baby Mive,” she wrote that an “entirely different picture” emerged in the expert report. She announced that the report included information that “the public hospitals that Dr. Şeyhmus Çelik reached out to for the baby who needed emergency heart surgery did not accept the baby due to financial reasons.”

In Cebeci’s report on July 1 titled “Don’t let him die at our door,” it was stated that the expert report regarding the death of the Nigerian baby Michelle Opara also pointed to the opposite of the allegations. The doctor, in his conversation with 112, requested a transfer by saying, ‘The baby will die under these conditions. We did something so he wouldn’t die at our door,’ but public hospitals did not accept him.

In Cebeci’s report published last February titled “It was claimed in the newborn indictment that he died of hunger: ‘Forensic Medicine says no negligence’,” the Forensic Medicine report, which was not included in the indictment, was the subject. I did not see this report regarding baby Havvanur Karakoç anywhere else.

First, let me say this: some dirty business may have been done, such as the abuse of the 112 referral system to fill intensive care units out of a greed for more money due to the decay brought about by the marketization of healthcare, or tampering with patient levels to receive maximum payments from the Social Security Institution (SGK). The judiciary will decide whether they committed these crimes or not.

But sticking the label of “baby killer” directly onto these doctors and nurses and trying to prove that they are guilty should not have been the media’s job. Our duty is to report the data indicating their innocence as much as those showing their guilt; not to write the accusations and then forget the case, but to follow it to the end…

The release of nurse Mehtap

The reports published in Karar and, finally, the release of even nurse Mehtap Sayar indicate that this case should be looked at more meticulously. In the initial reports, it was alleged that Mehtap Sayar responded to nurse Hasan Basri Gök’s message, “Mehtap, kill the child. Is there such a thing as a child with 50 saturation?” by saying, “I will kill him, but it’s a problem if I kill him too, you know.”

However, because the context of the wiretaps was missing, it was unclear which baby was being referred to or what Mehtap Sayar did after this conversation. In fact, in the first law enforcement summary, a decision of non-prosecution was given for Mehtap Sayar for the crime of “killing by negligence,” which was not covered in the media.

Also, there are no photos of Mehtap Sayar, but because the news about the capture of the woman involved in the incident of threatening the prosecutor was published in many places along with the headline “Mehtap, kill the child,” the defense lawyer in that case, Aylin Arslantatar, is still mistaken for Mehtap Sayar. Indeed, even in the reports by Karar, Milliyet, Yeni Akit, Ensonhaber, and Halktv.com.tr regarding Mehtap Sayar’s release, Aylin Arslantatar’s photo was used.

Now it is time to stop acting like a judge or social media trolls and look at this case with journalistic objectivity. Labeling, and labeling unfairly at that, does not suit journalism; it creates a heavy burden of conscience.