Lazy and reflex-impaired journalism

Lazy and reflex-impaired journalism 

   Have journalistic reflexes died, or have reporters and editors become truly lazy? Lately, I have been seeing so many incomplete, distorted, misleading, and suspicious news reports where there was no need for even a small amount of research, or where they were too lazy to even ask the person involved...

      The reports titled “A brute and his spectators,” “Where is the conscience?” and “One hit, the other watched” were examples of this. These reports, published on front pages, targeted a person who was said to have calmly watched a man beat the woman he lived with. 

   While writing the story, no attempt was made to speak with that person in the Akhisar district of Manisa; it was easier for the reporter and editors to accuse him based on a photograph. Moreover, when these reports were published in Akşam, Hürriyet, Milliyet, Posta, Sabah, and DHA, exactly seven days had passed since the incident. 

   The next day, only Milliyet reporter Eren Koca and DW reporter Kazım Kızıl found and spoke to that person. It turned out the man could not get up because he was disabled; he said, “I couldn't get up. For the first time, I hated being disabled.” Thus, it was revealed how unfair and wrong the accusatory reports from the first day were, but no media organization apologized to him.

   The second example is the report in Cumhuriyet newspaper titled “İnce’s office is now Sinan Oğan’s.” The report stated, “The Turkey Alliance Party, founded by Sinan Oğan, has moved into the former headquarters building of the Homeland Party (Memleket Partisi); it is alleged that he is now sitting in the office where Oğan visited Muharrem İnce before the 2023 elections.” 

   How strange; instead of going to the building to look, or calling and speaking with a party member to investigate, they just said “it is alleged” and moved on. Yet the building is in Ankara, not in some remote corner of the country! The reporter did not research it, and the editors put it on the page without objection…

      The third example is the news regarding the health status of journalist Reha Muhtar, who was hospitalized after a domestic accident on August 20. Reports on the health of Reha Muhtar, who was intubated, were based on social media posts by journalist Uğur Dündar in Hürriyet, Milliyet, and almost everywhere else. Additionally, posts by his ex-wife, Deniz Uğur, regarding their son Poyraz, her criminal complaint, and the ensuing debates were turned into news.  

    But while Reha Muhtar’s life was at risk, journalists did not try to call hospital administrators or Reha Muhtar’s relatives to get information. A reporter from Halktv.com.tr finally looked into it 10 days later, and that is how it was learned that Reha Muhtar had been re-intubated. 

   With such sloppy and lazy news produced at a desk, trust in journalism and professional reputation are being destroyed. The rise of digital channels should not mean the disappearance of classic journalistic reflexes. 

  The race to please patronage 

   Demirören group newspapers have dedicated the top right corner of their logos to promoting the series of Kanal D, a television channel within the same group. For days, they have been repeatedly promoting the series of this channel.

    I noticed that they have been reporting on Kanal D without any breaks; I have been counting since August 20. News about Kanal D’s series has been published eight times in Milliyet, five times in Hürriyet, and three times in Posta. There were also those published on inner pages, which I did not count.

    In fact, Demirören newspapers have functioned as promotional bulletins for their bosses' TV channels for years. But these types of reports have increased significantly lately. Especially Milliyet’s act of running hidden advertisements for the boss’s new TV series under the guise of news for six consecutive days is a behavior that cannot be explained by journalistic logic. By doing so, they are both damaging their own credibility and mocking the reader’s intelligence.

     Of course, it is not just the Demirören group; the newspapers and news sites of all groups that own TV channels are engaging in the same kind of hidden advertising; they also ignore developments that have news value regarding the television channels of other groups. Ultimately, they are all in a race to please their patronage… 

    “Pistachio theater” is fine, but…

     The pro-government newspapers were very cheerful that day. Under headlines like “Pistachio-like theater” (Akşam), “Pistachio theater in CHP exposed” (Sabah), and “Pistachio complaint turns out to be a setup” (Turkey), they were saying, “The woman who blocked Özgür Özel’s path and explained the ‘troubles of the pistachio growers’ turned out to be the wife of a CHP mayor.” 

    I looked into it, and one of the women among the pistachio producers who blocked Özgür Özel’s path before the rally was indeed Aslıhan Doğan, the wife of the CHP Nizip Mayor Ali Doğan! Ali Doğan had also shared his wife’s photo as a “pistachio producer” without mentioning that she was his wife. 

     On the CHP’s website, there was also a photo of Aslıhan Doğan, described as the “pistachio producer woman who welcomed Özel on a tractor trailer,” taken while she was handing a pistachio branch to Özgür Özel. Özgür Özel was responding, “I am going to the rally to make your voice heard. I will say, ‘Sister Aslı gave me this.’” 

    A serious act of meddling was indeed committed. Even worse is that after the staging was exposed, Ali Doğan did not make a statement or apologize. Unfortunately, the report on the CHP’s website has not been corrected either.

    In this incident, the pro-government media did not aim to inform the public but to protect the interests of the ruling party. They reported as if the pistachio producers had no problems at all and the mayor’s wife had staged a scene to describe a non-existent problem. It is obvious that pistachio producers have problems, and the producers are already talking about them. But the pro-government media does not listen to those voices; instead of being the voice of the producers, it continues to protect the interests of the government…

     They complain about resignation reports, but 

    The pro-government site Haber7 has kept a tally of the false backstage “news” about Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek. Since he took office, reports have been published that he has resigned exactly five times. All of them are untrue, of course…

     Moreover, the source of the latest resignation report is not a journalist, but DP Deputy Chairman Cemal Enginyurt. The basis for his post is also unclear. When such a claim is made by a politician, the first thing to do should be to immediately consult the source or get information from relevant circles. 

    But that was not done; Enginyurt’s post was immediately turned into news. This is bad journalism. You cannot report every claim with the mindset of “Let’s report it, let the concerned party deny it.” Especially if the subject of the news is the Minister of Finance, the cost of false news to journalism and the public is high.

     However, it must be admitted that there is a communication environment that allows these reports to continue. Government circles, especially the Presidency, are completely closed to journalists, especially the opposition media. They neither invite them to programs nor answer their questions. The Directorate of Communications is also focused on denials rather than informing journalists and the public. 

      The lack of transparency in management unfortunately makes it difficult to verify and sufficiently research rumors. When there are no news sources to convey what is really happening behind closed doors, rumors, backstage gossip, and claims thrive. 

    If only the government would listen to Ali Saydam, who keeps writing about communication errors—with a careful tone—in Yeni Şafak…

 In a single sentence:

*Akşam’s front-page headline “February 28 mentality for university student Dilara” failed to mention that Dilara Çiçek, who was claimed to have been discriminated against due to her headscarf, is the daughter of Murat Çiçek, the Executive Board Chairman of Türk Medya, which also owns Akşam.

*Türkiye newspaper introduced Muhammet Bayram as an “economist” in its report “Turkey will enter a period of prosperity as of 2025,” but this person is actually a financial advisor. 

*Sabah’s report “President Erdoğan chatted with citizens” contained no information about what was discussed between Erdoğan and those who came to the mosque. 

*Sabah, AHaber, and TGRT did not name the private hospital accused in the report “Heart doctor filed a criminal complaint for the late diagnosis of the hospital where he works.”

*Sözcü, in its front-page report regarding an officer in Rize not shaking the hand of Sinop Mayor Metin Gürbüz’s wife, did not mention that this incident was brought to the agenda two days earlier by Alper Taş of the Left Party (Sol Parti) in his speech on Halk TV. 

*Cumhuriyet did not report on the SETA report containing the assessment that “Erdoğan’s armor has been lifted,” which Nuray Babacan wrote about in Gazete Pencere, but it did publish SETA’s information-free and delayed denial.  

*Only Yeni Şafak and Milliyet among the pro-government media did not put the fact that President Erdoğan’s son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar and his brother Haluk Bayraktar were tax record-holders on their front pages.

*TRNC Minister of Culture and Tourism Fikri Ataoğlu hosted reporters from Akşam, Hürriyet, Sabah, and Yeni Şafak, and they published reports praising tourism activities on the island.

*Chinese Ambassador Shaobin and Consul General in Istanbul Xiaodong’s half-page “promotional” articles were published in Türkiye newspaper without a sponsored content warning.

*Halktv.com.tr’s report “Message like Dostoevsky to CHP from independent MP” did not explain why a connection was established between Yüksel Arslan’s post and Dostoevsky.

*Yeni Şafak, in its one-sided report titled “Stray dog gangs,” targeted animal lovers who oppose the collection of stray dogs by writing their names openly.

*ATV, throughout its report “Power outage in Bebek is exhausting,” never mentioned the company responsible for the outages and the fact that the cables are above ground; the subject of the report remained ambiguous.

*In Türkiye newspaper, Dr. Cafer Talha Şeker, in his article titled “The marriage age of Aisha,” defended marriage at age 13 by saying, “While a girl can become a woman and get married at 13, her sister or friend might not be ready for marriage even at 18.”