The 'told his inner circle' mishap

The classic political reporting trope of "told his inner circle" has landed Fatih Atik from TGRT Haber in trouble this time. When Atik's report became the subject of news and social media posts claiming "Kılıçdaroğlu: Neither İmamoğlu nor Yavaş, CHP must determine a new candidate," a denial came from Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

While Atik responded to Kılıçdaroğlu's statement by saying, "I stand behind my report and the information I provided. Mr. Kemal may have denied it," he emphasized that the part about "Kılıçdaroğlu placing a reservation on İmamoğlu and Yavaş" was his own personal interpretation.

I also watched the controversial August 19 episode of the program. Atik, saying "What Kılıçdaroğlu told his inner circle about his presidential candidacy," stated the following:

"'The administration should start by determining a new presidential candidate and creating a program.' Kılıçdaroğlu says: 'Neither Ekrem İmamoğlu nor Mansur Yavaş nor anyone else. CHP must determine a new presidential candidate. And it must create a new program,' he says.

He has one more sentence. 'The current mayors - he had said this during the election period as well, meaning for both Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş - the current mayors must serve the people of the provinces they were elected in,' he says, 'I am of the same opinion.' So, with these words, he is placing a reservation on both Ekrem İmamoğlu's presidential candidacy and the candidacy of Mansur Yavaş, whom he was once very close to, as I understand it, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu..."

Unfortunately, the transcript of his words does not support Atik's defense. The sentence "Neither İmamoğlu nor Yavaş" begins with "Kılıçdaroğlu says" and ends that way as well. In the final "He is placing a reservation" sentence, Atik tries to indicate that it is his "personal interpretation" by using "I mean" and "as I understand it," but this does not change the fact that he directly attributed the initial sentences to Kılıçdaroğlu.

I wish Fatih Atik, after Kılıçdaroğlu's denial, had said "I expressed that incorrectly there, it got mixed up" instead of blaming others by saying "That is my interpretation." That would have been the right thing to do.

In the past, Deniz Baykal frequently resorted to this "inner circle" trope. He would speak to the journalist himself but would want it written as "He spoke to his inner circle." Sometimes, "backstage" reporters would truly write by speaking to an "inner circle." But in journalism, presenting a person's thoughts in a way where the source is ambiguous is both ethically problematic and difficult to defend when denied like this...

THE MODEL'S DEATH AND FOLLOW-UP JOURNALISM

When I saw the news that the Court of Cassation had overturned the acquittal decisions in the case regarding the death of model Aslı Baş, I remembered journalist Ercan Öztürk. He was at the Akşam newspaper in 2010, when Aslı Baş died after falling from the balcony of Ahmet Bayer's villa at his holiday village in Bodrum; he had written a series of reports claiming that the young woman's death was not a suicide, but a murder.

He did not forget this case later on; he provided a successful example of follow-up journalism and turned the information he obtained into a book. In his book titled "Bir Cinayetin Aslı" (The Truth of a Murder), he sought an answer to the question, "The power of justice or the law of the powerful?"; he explained with evidence how the power of businessman Ahmet Bayer and his sons Hakan Sadi and Volkan Bayer influenced the judiciary and the media.

When I heard the Court of Cassation's decision, I called Ercan Öztürk to congratulate him; he was happy. "The Court of Cassation had to overturn it. After the reports, we rubbed the fact that Aslı Baş's death was a murder into people's eyes with the book as well," he said and continued:

"We saw in this case, too, how influential journalism is on the judiciary. Ahmet Bayer has figured out well what kind of people journalists are. He would host journalists who would write reports and magazine editors at his hotel; he would block the reports. I also faced pressure during both the Mehmet Emin Karamehmet and Ethem Sancak eras to stop writing the Aslı Baş reports.

I believe that if it weren't for my book, the Court of Cassation would not have issued an overturning decision. I received the reaction of 'Wow, they killed the girl in plain sight and threw her' from everyone who read the book. Think about it, the incident happens around 02:30 at night. When someone jumps down, you call an ambulance first, right? They call the ambulance hours later! Despite this, Ahmet Bayer and his sons had been acquitted."

I hope the journalists who undertook the defense of Bayer and his sons during the trial will also learn a lesson...

THERE WERE NO PEOPLE ON THE STREET IN THE AFGHANISTAN SERIES

On the fourth anniversary of the Taliban taking power, Afghanistan impressions by Yasin Aktay in Yeni Şafak and then by Murat Özer in Akşam were published.

However, it was not clear with what kind of organization they went. I asked Yasin Aktay whether the Taliban administration had invited them. Aktay replied, "We organized it with a group of businessmen and intellectuals from Islamic countries, most of whom live in Istanbul. There was no invitation from there." Aktay and Özer had gone with the same group, but Aktay's article was published on August 6-7, and Özer's was published with a delay on August 15-17.

Perhaps due to their discussions together, both article series bore similarities. At the top of these similarities was their praise for the Taliban administration. While conveying his impressions on 24 TV, Özer was saying, just like in the series, "Kabul has turned into an extremely modern city. We almost don't see the effects of the destruction. There is calm and peace."

Aktay, in the section titled "The politics of the impossible from the Taliban," was arguing that the Taliban had created a "real success story" regarding "social peace" and "crisis management."

Of course, their observations might be like this, but it was noteworthy that in both article series, there was no conversation with anyone other than the interviews conducted with the ministers of the Taliban administration. Apart from his observations, Aktay was only conveying the interview with Minister of National Education Habibullah Agha; in Özer's, interviews with Minister of Interior Haqqani and Minister of Foreign Affairs Muttaqi were additionally included.

The photos Özer took in Kabul are valuable in terms of providing information about daily life, but it was a major deficiency that there was not a single woman's opinion, even in the section "Being a woman in Afghanistan / We do not hinder women's education."

I also asked Yasin Aktay the reason for this deficiency. He replied, "We actually had quite a few meetings on the streets with other unofficial people, but perhaps we couldn't reflect them enough; to tell the truth, we didn't see much of a situation that contradicted what we told."

Of course, they may have spoken to people, but neither article series tells of this; there is no person on the street in those lines. In this form, the articles create the perception that both writers only made contact with the Taliban administration and formed a one-sided impression based on these meetings.

IF MEHMET AĞAR DID NOT MEDIATE

Yeniçağ writer Orhan Uğuroğlu wrote that "Mehmet Ağar mediated the transition of Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu from CHP to AKP."

He stated that Özlem Çerçioğlu and the former Mayor of Didim, A. Deniz Atabay, held meetings on a yacht in Didim with Mehmet Ağar's son Tolga Ağar and Korkut Eken; he also emphasized that the source of this information was the local Aydın Şafak newspaper.

However, Mehmet Ağar, Korkut Eken, and A. Deniz Atabay, who were mentioned in the article, called and denied this information. Uğuroğlu added the statements of all three to his article. He did well; he corrected it.

Uğuroğlu then called me and asked me to examine this issue from an ethical perspective. It seems he trusted that the parties did not make a statement despite the news being published in the local media days ago; he quoted it without checking with the named individuals.

Undoubtedly, Ağar and Eken may not have heard those reports. However, the Aydın and Didim municipalities should have made a statement regarding such a report appearing in the local media. Their failure to make a statement is a serious deficiency. But it is not the first time either.

The Aydın Şafak newspaper had written that Özgür Özel did not shake Çerçioğlu's hand at the ceremony in CHP; the municipality did not deny that either. But then a photo showing them shaking hands emerged.

The fact that the relevant parties did not make a statement does not prove that a report - especially one in the local media - is true. Moreover, there is a report in question that casts suspicion on individuals. Therefore, Uğuroğlu should have checked it from its source himself while quoting it.

I conveyed this assessment of mine to Uğuroğlu as well; it was a valuable collaboration. He will publish this article of mine in his column and will also apologize to the parties. We cannot avoid mistakes in our profession, but what is important is to learn a lesson and turn the mistake into an added value on behalf of our profession...

RESTORATION OF REPUTATION FOR TOGG FROM JOURNALISM

In Sözcü's report "Minister of Family Göktaş changed her official vehicle," it was said, "The domestic and national TOGG is gone, the massaging Mercedes has arrived."

The Ministry of Family and Social Services made a statement: "Which vehicle will be used in programs is determined by professional teams, taking into account security, protocol, and technical requirements." With this expression, it was being said that the TOGG was not seen as sufficient to take Minister Mahinur Göktaş to the wedding ceremony in Karabük. Only what was written about the "model and technical features" of the Mercedes, that is, that the vehicle "has a body massage system," was being denied.

Actually, contrary to the information in the headline, it was stated within the report that the "body massage system" is "in some versions of this model." Writing it like this without confirming that there was a "massage system" in the vehicle Göktaş was riding in was exaggerated, but the other elements of the report were true.

A large part of the pro-government media did not see Sözcü's report and the Ministry's statement at all. It is like a joke, but three days later, Akşam published praises for TOGG again, saying "Turkish wind will blow at the Munich Fair," and Sabah said "Turkey will raise the voltage in Munich."

However, even if the pro-government media ignored it, Sözcü's report was effective, and Minister Göktaş finally had to return to the TOGG official vehicle. Critical journalism won again.

In one sentence:

• The Türkiye newspaper, in its report "Extracting salt from the lake with traditional methods," added a man shoveling salt to the aerial photo taken by Anadolu Agency, but did not write that it was a montage.

• The pro-government media did not mention that M. Emin Fidan, who burned a "White Toros" in front of the Parliament, was wearing a t-shirt with Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu printed on it.

• Milliyet's headline, "Ezhel's 'I am ashamed of my Turkishness' words caused reactions," regarding artist Ezhel's sentence, "As long as nobility, justice, and happiness do not come to mind when one says Turkish, I am ashamed of my Turkishness," was incomplete and misleading.

• It was wrong to say "uniform" while reporting the Ministry of National Education's decision on single-type clothing in schools on Now TV Main News; soldiers and police wear uniforms, while students wear "school uniforms" (forma).

• ANKA, Milliyet, T24, NTV, Onedio, Karar, Diken, Sputnik reported the decision taken for passenger-carrying vehicles with headlines like "Attention vehicle owners: Camera and tracking system has become mandatory," as if a requirement had been introduced for all vehicles.

• In Halktv.com.tr's report "Not peer bullying, but attempted murder," presenting the beating of a young girl in detail with four photos in addition to the footage was violence pornography.

• Nefes wrote on August 19 in the report "Kerem is now a Fener fan" that the transfer was "concluded," but not only did the transfer not happen, Kerem Aktürkoğlu played for the Benfica team in the Fenerbahçe match.

• Sabah, in its headline "Order to kill the confessor Aktaş," presented MHP Chairman Bahçeli's words "He is my fellow idealist and comrade" as "Reaction to Selahattin Yılmaz allegations," as if they were not the ones accusing Selahattin Yılmaz as a "criminal organization leader" and "hitman."

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