Do not normalize the appointment of trustees to Halk TV

There are those in the pro-government media who are eagerly awaiting an operation against the opposition media. Since March 19, when the operation against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) began, they have been cheering and rubbing their hands, claiming that a media operation is coming.

Most recently, Halk TV and its Chairman of the Board, Cafer Mahiroğlu, have been targeted. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into Mahiroğlu on charges of "rigging a tender" and has issued an arrest warrant. The basis for the investigation is the following sentence from the statement of Aziz İhsan Aktaş, whom the pro-government media has referred to as a "criminal organization leader" for days:

"As I understood later, Yusuf Yadoğlu, Remzi Baka, and Cafer Mahiroğlu became partners and reached an agreement on these projects."

As reflected in the headline of the Takvim newspaper, "Arrest warrant for Cafer Mahiroğlu, owner of CHP-aligned Halk TV," the person subject to the investigation was not just Cafer Mahiroğlu as an individual, but "Halk TV owner Cafer Mahiroğlu."

Indeed, while Mahiroğlu stated, "I am being accused based on the false statements and slanders of someone I do not know," he drew attention to the relationship between the investigation and the ownership of Halk TV:

"Ever since I bought Halk TV, they have not stopped slandering me. It seems there is a price to pay for being the owner of the people's television, Halk TV, for defending democracy, rights, and the law, for objecting to wrongs, and for fighting against corruption."

Following this, speeches and news reports emerged that revealed the true target was Halk TV. Türkiye newspaper columnist Cem Küçük described the operation as the "beginning of the media leg." TGRT programmer Barış Yarkadaş said, "This decision is the first sign of a trustee being appointed to Halk TV! I hope a trustee is not appointed to Halk TV."

While it was being discussed on TV programs whether a "trustee would be appointed or not," Fatih Altaylı even mentioned names, saying, "It is highly probable that they will appoint one of the AKP members within the CHP as a trustee and say, 'Look, we appointed a CHP member there.' It would not be surprising if it were Aslı Baykal or one of the names from TGRT." In the Yeni Akit report titled "It's the turn of the 'extortion' media," which included distorted information and absurd expressions, it was also stated that "it is highly probable that a trustee will be appointed to Halk TV."

Unfortunately, under these conditions, it is not possible to say, "They would not dare to appoint a trustee to Halk TV." For a long time, they have been able to seize companies immediately upon arrest, without a court decision and before any conviction has been handed down against businesspeople.

In the past, they carried out seizures and takeovers in the media through the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) and privatizations. Recently, as seen in the example of Flash Haber TV, they have switched to the method of appointing trustees through investigations.

Until recently, the number of opposition screens could already be counted on the fingers of one hand. After it was sold, KRT TV's editorial line became unclear. The channel's new owner, Fırat Bozfırat, had not even paid his employees' salaries for two months. KRT TV, where our colleagues have been protesting for days for their wages and "editorial independence," is now broadcasting on a loop. In a vegetative state, that is...

But the government is uncomfortable even with the few remaining channels. Because they do not broadcast based on hiding the negatives, corruption, and scandals that the government does not like. They inform the public with their critical reporting. Those screens become windows opening to the truth for people.

Halk TV is also—to quote İsmail Saymaz—the "flagship" of opposition screens. Appointing a trustee to Halk TV would not just be punishing Cafer Mahiroğlu; it would be closing another window that enlightens the public and condemning them to a little more darkness.

That is why, instead of talking about "Will a trustee be appointed?" or "Who will be appointed as trustee?" and normalizing the appointment of a trustee, we must raise our voices to say, "A trustee cannot and should not be appointed." It is time for solidarity among journalists once again...

ARE MURDERED CHILDREN MATERIAL FOR A SHOW?

We journalists always pride ourselves on being the "voice of the voiceless, the power of the powerless." However, the news story titled "The grieving mother of a child murdered for making noise says, 'My child's case was not talked about as much as Ahmet Minguzzi's'" hit us in the face with the fact that we are not that at all.

The report on the Güney'in Sesi website conveyed the words of Tülay Bayındır, the mother of 10-year-old Emir Baki Bayındır, who was shot and killed with a rifle by a greengrocer named Mühsün Taşkın in Gaziantep under the pretext of noise:

"The whole world stood up for the Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi case. That is a child murder, and so is this. They are blind and deaf to my child. My child has as much right as Ahmet Minguzzi. Children are equal. Because we are a poor family, they discriminated against us. No one heard our voice because we are not a well-known family."

The grieving mother spoke the truth. "All children are equal," they should be equal. We should have been as saddened by Emir, followed the case, and reported on it as much as we were saddened by Minguzzi and followed his case in detail.

But that did not happen. The media has been following developments regarding the Ahmet Minguzzi murder for months, and news reports are being published. But no one mentions the case regarding Emir Baki, who was murdered in Gaziantep on August 29, 2024. Even the "Justice for Emir Baki Bayındır" campaign launched on Change.org has only been signed by 80 people.

In fact, it is not just Emir Baki; the media does not look at all murdered children through the lens that "all children are equal." Those who can be sensationalized are selected and brought to the forefront. They act as if they are looking for material for a show.

So much so that it is even ignored that those who killed Ahmet Minguzzi were also under 18, "children pushed into crime." The reasons for the increase in children pushed into crime are not addressed either. They are content with making what is already in the public eye even more visible.

Child murders and children pushed into crime are among our important and growing problems. We have to monitor and report on all child murders and children pushed into crime with equal criteria and strive to shed light on the unseen aspects of the problem.

THOSE WHO CRITICIZE SHOULD NOT RESEMBLE BEYAZ TV

Sözcü's report titled "'Prostitution' investigation at Gökçek's channel" stated that an investigation had been launched against two presenters at Beyaz TV on allegations of "drug trafficking and prostitution."

According to the report, "a person had complained to the prosecutor's office about presenters D.D. and P.E., and when the prosecutor's office announced that it had launched an investigation, the two presenters were dismissed from their duties at the channel." The report on Sözcü's website was cited by dozens of news sites, from Solhaber to Veryansıntv. In some reports, the names of the presenters were explicitly mentioned.

Subsequently, the presenters of the "Söylemezsem Olmaz" program, Pınar Eliçe and Didem Delen, appeared and defended themselves with statements and programs; they sent letters of retraction to the sites. They argued that the accusations were not based on any evidence, that they had received a document from the prosecutor's offices stating that there was no investigation against them, and that the producer, whose employment was terminated by the channel management, had slandered them.

To be honest, I was surprised when I first read the news. There was neither the name of the complainant in the news nor any concrete evidence or event related to the accusation. It had not even been investigated whether the accusation was true or not. The accusation was serious, but somehow the two female presenters had not even been detained.

The emphasis on "Gökçek's channel" and "Beyaz TV" in the headlines cast suspicion on Gökçek and Beyaz TV as well as the female presenters. However, as in the presenters' statements, it cannot be good journalism to expose the presenters and Beyaz TV to such an accusation when there is not even a single piece of data regarding this accusation.

Journalistic rules must be applied equally and uncompromisingly, whoever the subject may be. The polemics of AKP MP Osman Gökçek and the propagandistic journalism of Beyaz TV do not justify deviating from journalistic principles in news about them.

The broadcasts of those who criticize should not resemble Beyaz TV.

In a single sentence:

• Yeni Şafak and the pro-government media, which called for "closing all ports to Israel," ignored the news about the Vela ship, which the Palestine Action Committee announced was docking at the Mersin port and carrying steel to Israel, but which the Center for Combating Disinformation claimed was "carrying food supplies to Palestine."

• Yeni Akit, which used the headline "Struck" for Ferdi Zeyrek, who lost his life, instead of apologizing, insulted those who criticized it by publishing a caricature showing a person with "Slander" and "Slanderer bastard" written on them being struck by electricity from Yeni Akit.

• Sabah, in its report "Former police chief who is a FETÖ member caught in Kırıkkale," did not write the name of the "former police chief" openly, even though he is a convict, and coded him as M.S.D.

• Akşam, in its report "First oral exam on June 23," preferred to soften the "interview" to be applied in the recruitment of contract teachers by calling it an "oral exam."

• Hüseyin Besli, in his column in Akşam, called for war by demanding that "Turkish planes conduct patrol flights in Syrian skies," "place missile ramps directed at the Golan, and therefore Israel," and "bring the Israeli state down on their heads."

• The reports on the "dismissal of 1030 municipal workers in İzmir," which Cumhuriyet and Gazete Pencere only gave the statement of Mayor Cemil Tugay, and BirGün only gave the counter-statement of the Belediye-İş Union, were incomplete and one-sided.

• Despite warnings that suicides are contagious, Sözcü published the news "He shot his wife on the street and committed suicide in the cemetery," and Nefes published "They shot their spouses and committed suicide."

• TV100 described the footage of three people torturing an elderly man in Ordu as "blood-curdling" but did not refrain from broadcasting it from start to finish.

• President Erdoğan placed a half-page obituary in Akşam, Hürriyet, Milat, Milliyet, Sabah, Takvim, Türkiye, Yeni Akit, and Yeni Şafak newspapers for the theater actor Hüseyin Goncagül, who was his schoolmate at Imam Hatip.

• Yeni Şafak used language incompatible with journalism, accusing and judging the CHP's new rally program by publishing it with the headline "CHP's new chaos plan" and using expressions such as "CHP trying to create turmoil in the country."

• Hürriyet used "Father's Day" as material to promote the series on Kanal D, one of its group channels, in its report "Here are the 'coolest' dads of the screen."

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