The collapse of journalism! Politicians asking for budgets, newspapers sending proposals to municipalities...

In these days when decay surrounds us on all sides, as a journalist, my heart aches. The pre-election process has once again slapped me in the face with the terrible corruption in the worlds of politics and media in every dimension.

When we call politicians saying, "Let's get a few opinions," and want to ask ordinary questions like, "How are you preparing for the election?", "What are your projections?", "What kind of strategy have you prepared?", they ask how much they will have to pay...

Yes, I want to emphasize it once again... They say, "How much will we have to pay?"...

They ask the question straight, with the same ease as a greengrocer at a neighborhood market asking, "How much is a kilo of oranges?"

This approach, which pushes my reporter colleagues to shame, makes them want to sink into the ground, and makes them question, "Did I choose the wrong profession?", has unfortunately become considered extremely normal by many people.

I do not want to give names because there is no end to denial.

They get out of it by saying, "No, we didn't tell anyone how much we would pay."

We have seen those who deny their confessions that have fallen into court records, and those who lie about facts that were spilled out in front of dozens of people by saying, "No, there is no such thing."

In a media environment where such great liars run rampant, the politician who asks a journalist, "How much will we have to pay?" in exchange for an interview remains a tad more innocent.

The culprits of this shameful decay are clear.

Those who act as hitmen for money, those who delete news from the internet, those who work in favor of power centers... The fake plaza frauds who talk with their mouths full even about the news served by agencies close to the government, saying, "But Mr. So-and-so! If we don't remove this news from publication, our advertising budget will be disrupted"... Those who turn the photos they take into money by threatening business people... Those who are drowned in bribes before the election...

And of course, those who do backflips in the air to say "Yes" to these unprincipled frauds who are ready to take any form for a few pennies...

There are certainly worse ones. Those who slander, those who blackmail...

I think it was the early years of the AKP. A friend of mine who quit journalism to become a press consultant and then passed away from cancer had told me.

He told me about how men who couldn't read or write would print 300-500 newspapers in basements, write headlines targeting the mayor, then come to the municipal building with the rags in their hands to extort money, and how the mayor would transfer money to this bunch of degenerates who claimed to be journalists, saying, "Just let them stay away."

Since those years, corruption and the moral collapse of journalism have continued unabated. Institutional immorality has replaced simple and vulgar swindlers.

Things have reached such a point that proposal letters have started to be sent to municipalities. It doesn't matter if they are close to the government or the opposition. Decay has enveloped the media in every dimension.

Think about it... The reader desires to read news, opinions, comments, and evaluations by paying a certain fee. In a period when newspapers are running out, they want to support the newspaper they believe in. Those in charge, however, have put the newspaper, the website, and even the YouTube channel up for sale.

The money they demand to hype up a mayoral candidate is in the 35 thousand to 45 thousand TL band... The proposal is also presented as 'Press Release Publication'.

I see my lines turning into anger, and I press the keys of my keyboard with resentment. Because if you ask these people, they are at the center of enlightenment, principles, honor, and values.

If we return to the decay that spreads foul odors around in the local and national press, I couldn't finish even if I wrote until morning.

A source I trust very much reported that the local press in Zeytinburnu is terrorizing and bearing down on candidates like a nightmare.

Some politicians we wanted to meet before the election asked, "How much will we give you, how much do you want?" Among those who have become so senseless as to think that the profession of journalism is done for money were members of the CHP, AKP, and the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi).

The team of a CHP district mayoral candidate responded to our interview request by saying, "We don't have a budget."

And the most interesting part is this... When you say to these people, "What budget, what money, we are journalists, we ask questions, we make news. We cannot have a demand," they are bewildered, they hem and haw. Their minds get confused, and their muddled minds get even more muddled with questions they cannot find answers to.

My advice to these people is, do not muddle your minds.

Journalism is a clear business. A journalist cannot receive or ask for money to ask questions or make news. It cannot be offered to a journalist either. A journalist cannot demand money under any circumstances for a political figure or a member of another professional group to be polished and presented. A journalist must write the truth. A journalist making news in exchange for money, preventing news, or twisting it cannot be discussed or imagined. Once money enters the equation, journalism is severely wounded and dies.

The election process brought not only these but other absurdities back to the agenda.

For example, press consultants want to see the questions. What else would you like? For example, would you like the questions you asked yourself and answered yourself to be published? You can be sure of the existence of a few places that will publish your questions that you asked and answered yourself.

Especially if you are the boss of one of Turkey's most powerful holdings, then your job is even easier...

By God, you have left neither a joy of life nor a gram of taste...