The pathetic saga of the judicial scandal

If this had happened in pre-AKP Turkey, the public would have been up in arms when the letter sent by Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor İsmail Uçar to the HSK, detailing bribery in the courthouse, was published. An army of journalists would have been waiting in front of the courthouse that morning to meet the prosecutor who wrote that letter and the judges who were accused.

     But that is not what happened; on the morning of October 13, when the headline “The wheels of justice turned with bribery” was published in BirGün under the byline of Timur Soykan, not a single journalist went to the courthouse. For a while, it was just published among the headlines on opposition news sites. But that evening, let alone the pro-government channels; the bribery letter was not even mentioned in the main news broadcasts of Halk TV or Flash Haber. KRT TV reported the chief prosecutor's complaint in its news bulletin, and FOX TV gave it as a short news item. On Tele1, it was only discussed on the program “18 Minutes”.

      The next day, only the digital-only outlets Gazete Pencere and Gazete İkinci Yüzyıl carried the story titled 'Chief Prosecutor's bribery letter to the HSK.' However, just like the pro-government newspapers, Cumhuriyet, Evrensel, Karar, Sözcü, and Yeniçağ failed to report even a single line about the prosecutor's letter. Just think about it: a chief prosecutor files a complaint providing concrete examples of a 'price list' operating within the courthouse for the release of drug and extortion suspects and betting barons, yet both the pro-government media and the opposition media chose to ignore it!  

     The judiciary, which had taken no action regarding the letter sent on October 6, finally sprang into action after the news broke. But what an action it was! Access blocking and content removal orders were issued against BirGün's report and Timur Soykan's social media posts. With the exception of a few examples—such as reports published on Artı Gerçek, Gazete Duvar, Gerçek Gündem, Diken, Evrensel, Journo, Medyascope, Politik Yol, Serbestiyet, Odatv, and T24, as well as Gökçer Tahincioğlu's article titled 'Decay: Clean hands in the judiciary or power struggles?'—the majority of the opposition media remained silent even after these blocking orders.  

     However, two days later, the atmosphere changed slightly. After reactions from opposition MPs, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that an investigation had been launched into the allegations in the letter, leading to an increase in news reports and articles. Yet, Seyhan Avşar's piece 'That petition also stirred up the Palace' on halktv.com.tr and Elif Çakır's article 'Let's see what the HSK will do' in Karar made no mention of BirGün or Timur Soykan. 

     On October 17, the reactions intensified; CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu spoke on the matter, and in addition to 82 bar associations, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations also issued a statement. The response petition from the accused judge, Sidar Demiroğlu, was also published by ANKA and halktv.com.tr. Following these developments, news and articles regarding the Chief Prosecutor's letter increased in the opposition media. Unfortunately, the lack of care in citing sources did not end. While Mehmet Y. Yılmaz and Gökçer Tahincioğlu at T24, Barış Terkoğlu and Barış Pehlivan at Cumhuriyet, Ahmet Taşgetiren at Karar, and İsmail Saymaz at Sözcü did reference BirGün and Timur Soykan in their columns, but There were no sources cited in the articles by Emre Kongar in Cumhuriyet, or Akif Beki and Figen Çalıkuşu in Karar.

    This is the state of our media in the face of such a massive judicial scandal. On one side, the pro-government media ignores the scandal; on the other, the opposition media fails to attach importance to it, refuses to press the issue, and does not even show respect for the labor involved. If this scandal, like those before it, is swept under the rug and forgotten, rest assured that the AKP government will not be the only one to blame...

    JOURNALISM THAT DEFEATED THE POLAT COUPLE

    Had journalism not stepped in, Dilan and Engin Polat would have continued to share photos and videos of their luxurious lives on social media, and their followers would have continued to watch with envy. The first to expose the true colors of this couple, who took pleasure in flaunting their millions, was...