Mr. Murat, that is not how an interview is done

Murat Ülker, who is Turkey's richest person with a fortune of 5.1 billion dollars according to Forbes' list, is pursuing a new hobby. He conducts interviews with friends such as Ali Koç, Bülent Eczacıbaşı, and Hanzade Doğan and publishes them on his website.

The digital realm offers a free space to Murat Ülker, just like everyone else; of course, he can interview whoever he wants. That is his own business, he can conduct interviews; he can use the power of his money as he wishes.

My objection is on two points. First, by defining his conversations with friends as an "interview" (röportaj), he presents them as a journalistic activity. An interview (röportaj) is a branch of journalism close to literature, where masters like Yaşar Kemal, Fikret Otyam, Bekir Yıldız, and Erol Toy exhibited valuable examples. Placing a recording device in front of a person, asking them questions, and publishing it is a conversation (söyleşi). Mr. Murat may not know this, but what he publishes is a conversation.

But what he does is not even a journalistic conversation, but rather a "chat between friends" type of affair. I am not sure if he prepared it himself, but there is not the slightest critical approach, negativity, or questioning in his questions. He hosts his friends in his chats... For example, just as there is no mention of Bülent Eczacıbaşı raiding a construction site with his armed men in Bodrum a few years ago, the issue of Doğan Holding's exit from the media under pressure from the AKP government is not brought up in the Hanzade Doğan interview.

My second objection is that journalists view these conversations as "successful journalistic products" and that media organizations publish these conversations as news... In his article "We are losing journalism and authorship to bosses" in Karar, Fehmi Koru said, "Murat Ülker is also doing work that enters the field of journalism in the internet environment" and "The job description of what is being done is journalism."

Well, does taking photos with a mobile phone make one a photojournalist, and do those who record and publish their chats become journalists? Of course not. If we call what Murat Ülker does journalism, there are so many people doing similar work on their own blogs that we would never get out of this.

The problem from the perspective of journalism is that the media is so eager for business people to flatter each other. If they weren't so eager to report and promote Murat Ülker's conversations, we wouldn't even be talking about it...

Fehmi Koru's suggestion that it is not enough to write "Journalist-Author" under the "talking heads" on screens, but that the media organization they work for should also be written, is very appropriate. Let us know who is who, and the audience as well...

DEFENDING CANAN KARATAY!

Don't let Melih Altınok's headline in Sabah, "I am reporting Canan Karatay," fool you. That is the joke of the matter; he was actually defending Karatay.

Of course he can defend her, but Altınok says, "Professor Canan Karatay, against whom lawsuits were filed due to her 'eat tripe soup' advice." Despite searching extensively, I could not find any lawsuit filed against Karatay due to "tripe soup advice."

She had a lawsuit in the past, and that was about her remarks saying, "do not get a glucose tolerance test during pregnancy." The Istanbul Medical Chamber's Honor Board had given her a 15-day suspension from the profession, and Karatay had filed a lawsuit. She lost the case, but in the end, the Constitutional Court found Karatay right on the grounds of "freedom of expression."

Also, Altınok writes, "Karatay is now being tried for telling a patient she hasn't seen for four years, 'Don't drink alcohol, don't eat too much fruit, don't neglect salt.'" I understand, Altınok has caricatured the case, but what he wrote is Karatay's defense.

Ceyhun Ülker, who passed away two months ago, had filed a lawsuit for suspension from the profession on the grounds that doctors recommended a bypass for him, but Karatay made him stop all the medications he was using, recommended a low-dose medication for high blood pressure and plenty of salt, and that he had a kidney transplant and remained severely disabled due to the wrong treatment applied for 4 years. His wife, Hürriyet Ülker, who is continuing the case, also said, "My husband was not an alcoholic."

Of course, the court will decide which side is right, but if Altınok had also reflected the view of the party that filed the lawsuit in the article, he would have informed his readers in a more balanced and complete manner.

THE HÜRRİYET EUROPE LEGEND HAS ENDED

The Hürriyet Europe legend, which once reached circulations of up to 200 thousand, has ended. Hürriyet, which has been printed in Germany and distributed to European countries since 1969 with the initiative of Nezih Demirkent, included developments regarding the Turkish community there in addition to news from Turkey.

The fact that television channels in Turkey can also be watched from Europe, internet journalism, and the editorial line followed by Demirören Media had recently caused Hürriyet Europe's circulation to fall below a thousand. In the end, the European edition became unsustainable and its publication was terminated as of February 1st. Unfortunately, no statement was published in Hürriyet on this matter either.

The newspaper Sabah had also ended its European edition earlier. Nowadays, only Sözcü continues to be distributed in Europe. Let's see how long that will last, we shall see...

JOURNALIST OPERATIONS OF THE LAST TWO MONTHS

The detention of Barış Pehlivan, Serhan Asker, Seda Selek, and Kürşad Oğuz from Halk TV and the subsequent arrest of Suat Toktaş are a continuation of the "legal" operations against the opposition media. The lawsuits, detentions, and obstructions filed in the last two months are concrete proof of this:

A lawsuit was filed against Nevşin Mengü with a request for up to 7.5 years in prison on the grounds that she "propagandized for a terrorist organization" with her Salih Müslüm interview.

Access to news reports by T24, BirGün, Gazete Duvar, and Halk TV containing the words of Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Şuayip Birinci regarding the strike of family physicians was blocked on the grounds of "violation of the privacy of private life."

A lawsuit was filed against Ayşenur Arslan on the charge of "propagandizing for the terrorist organization PKK" due to her words regarding the terrorist attack on the Ministry of Interior on her program on Halk TV.

A lawsuit was filed against Cengiz Erdinç with a request for up to 3 years in prison on the charge of "spreading misleading information to the public" in his social media posts where he quoted from a book.

İnan Kızılkaya was sentenced to a judicial fine of 7 thousand TL by the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance due to the news report "The most useful judge of the Palace regime."

The Capital Markets Board imposed an access ban on 108 websites, including globally known platforms such as Coinex, MEXC, Bitmex, and HTX.

An electronic shackle was attached to the ankle of Özgür Gürses, who was detained due to her statement about the TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) and the Syrian National Army, and a house arrest decision was made.

RTÜK granted 72 hours for Cumhuriyet's YouTube channel to obtain a broadcasting license and 30 days for Now TV to change its name.

Lawsuits were filed against Dinçer Gökçe from halktv.com.tr, Nilay Can from Gazete Pencere, and journalist Veysi Dündar due to news reports that "the prosecutor who dismantled the newborn gang was removed from the case."

Access to the X accounts of Mezopotamya Agency, Jinnews News Agency, Yeni Yaşam Newspaper, and Siyasi Haber was blocked.

A lawsuit was filed against Doğan Akın and Candan Yıldız from T24 with a request for up to 8 years in prison due to the news report "Dicle Fırat Journalists Association: Journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin were killed in Syria," and against Seyhan Avşar from Gerçek Gündem due to her posts.

An investigation was launched against T24 writer and programmer Şirin Payzın on the allegation of "propagandizing for terrorism" in her social media posts.

Journalists Necla Demir, Rahime Karvar, Ahmet Güneş, Welat Ekin, Vedat Örüç, and Reyhan Hacıoğlu were arrested on the allegation of "membership in an organization" without their statements being taken.

Journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan announced that he was called to give a statement on the allegation of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility" (TCK 216) based on a social media post.

An investigation was launched against BirGün Reporter Mustafa Bildircin upon the request of Diyanet Affairs President Ali Erbaş on charges of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility" and "publicly spreading false information."

An investigation was launched against İsmail Arı due to his news reports about MHP Deputy Levent Uysal and President Erdoğan's former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal, and his posts that Halkbank and the Gendarmerie General Command complained about.

An investigation was launched into Fırat Fıstık's news report from Sözcü TV titled "The Ministry is buying goods from Israel."

RTÜK rained down fines on SözcüTV, Flash Haber, NOW TV, Halk TV, Tele1, TV8, and Netflix.

BirGün Chairman of the Board İbrahim Aydın was sentenced to a total of 127 thousand TL in fines from separate files on the grounds that he "did not publish the corrections in accordance with the procedure."

In one sentence:

Ignoring the criticisms regarding the fire in Kartalkaya and the fact that those staying at the adjacent hotel continued to ski, Hürriyet's Kelebek supplement writer Mehmet Üstündağ wrote that a businessman was "enjoying the ski slopes in Uludağ" with his 8-year-old son.

The AKP gave its congress announcement for February 23rd to Akşam, Milliyet, Hürriyet, Sabah, and Yeni Şafak.

As if it were the first or second "farewell," Hürriyet put the headline "Final farewell to Deniz Arman" on the news about the burial of journalist Deniz Arman.

On the day Nefes published the news "Cengiz's mine also killed the bees," the newspaper Akşam advertised Cengiz İnşaat by saying "Cengiz's signature on Karabakh's economic victory."

Yeni Şafak reported three days later that Moody's had "passed over Turkey's credit rating."

The information that the public opinion research included in BirGün's analysis "Two-thirds don't want it, but it's the first party" was conducted with 2 thousand 22 people in 26 provinces on January 22-24 was missing.

The accreditation procedures for journalists who would follow the AKP Antalya Provincial Congress, which President Erdoğan also attended, were carried out by the Antalya Governorship instead of the party's provincial presidency.

Yeni Akit insulted Memleket Party Chairman Muharrem İnce by writing "Spineless Muharrem is at the door of the CHP."

Akşam produced a justification for violence and murder with the headline "He shot his cheating wife."

Nefes did not cite Hürriyet and Sözcü as sources in its news that Halit Ergül, the owner of the hotel that burned down in Kartalkaya, "occupied 220 decares of forest land" at his other hotel called Gazelle Resort.

In the news "Anadolu Agency announced: 240 years of imprisonment requested for Hakan Ateş" on Sözcü's webpage, there was no information about who Hakan Ateş and the other defendant Mehmet Aydoğdu were.

İbrahim Karagül from Yeni Şafak acted as a judge and prosecutor by writing "Ayşe Barım organization."

Sabah and Milliyet cut the part in Bahçeli's speech where he said, "I do not find it appropriate and correct for the relevant Ministry to act as if nothing happened and refrain from self-criticism."

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