Is it a journalist's job to report on Bülent Ersoy?

What artist Bülent Ersoy recounted has allowed us to learn about a journalistic error that occurred years ago. In a program titled “Dünya güzellerim masada” (My World Beauties at the Table) on YouTube, which she hosts alongside Banu Alkan and Safiye Soyman, Bülent Ersoy said the following:

“Savaş Kalafat called. He said, ‘Dear Bülent, you will be upset, but I want to tell you something. There is a house in İzmir, they filmed Cem leaving it.’ I said, ‘I just arrived from İzmir, I just got off the plane. Could there be a mistake?’ He said, ‘There is footage.’

I got back on the plane and returned to İzmir. I went to the place where they met, I knocked on the door. It didn't open. I kicked the door, and it collapsed. I looked and saw both of them naked. They saw me and covered themselves. I divorced him immediately.”

These words from Bülent Ersoy were published as news on dozens of news sites, from Hürriyet to Cumhuriyet. I checked, and Bülent Ersoy was telling the truth; her returning to İzmir and catching her husband in that house had indeed become news.

Savaş Kalafat is a name who served as the News Editor for the newspaper Hafta Sonu, published by Hürriyet, for about 15 years, and later continued his career in tabloid journalism at other media organizations.

However, it is wrong for him to call and inform Bülent Ersoy after learning that her husband, Cem Adler, was cheating on the artist, photographing it, and completing the elements of the story. A journalist writes the news; they do not report a cheating husband to his wife. But Savaş Kalafat, instead of publishing the news, called and reported it to Bülent Ersoy; he staged a new story.

In a case of infidelity, instead of witnessing and reporting as a journalist, he became the subject of the process. They also followed the developments after he gave the news; they watched Bülent Ersoy return to İzmir and catch her husband with his lover, and only then did they report it.

Such methods might be used frequently in tabloid journalism, but being common does not mean they are correct. Informing a wife about a cheating husband is not a method compatible with journalism, regardless of when or under what conditions it occurs. A journalist should not interfere in private life…

EMBARGO ON LABOR PROTESTS

On the morning of December 21, two news stories regarding labor protests were broadcast on FOX TV's Çalar Saat program, hosted by İlker Karagöz. In the first story, which appeared on screen with the subtitle “The factory owner's word will be final,” it was explained that workers protesting for fireproof clothing were not allowed into the cafeteria. However, the report mentioned neither where the factory was located nor the name of the company.

The second story, titled “Reaction to the 35 percent raise offer,” was about workers at an automotive factory in Bursa protesting the offered raise rate in the cafeteria. The name of the factory where this protest took place was also missing.

The footage used in the FOX reports was taken from İHA (İhlas News Agency). I found and checked the original İHA report. In the report titled “Claim that the meals of workers wanting winter clothing were cut and their shuttles were canceled,” the company's name was not hidden! In the very first sentence of the report, the information was given that “Workers of the Tezcan Galvaniz Factory operating in the Kartepe district of Kocaeli.”

The company name was also included in the same way in the İHA report regarding the protest at the automotive factory in Bursa. The İHA report carried the headline “Protest with forks and knives at the Tofaş automobile factory”; far from hiding the company's name, they used it in the headline.

It seems that FOX TV had filtered out the name in the report! But this is poor journalism. By doing so, they report on the protest and appear to be on the side of the workers, but they also protect the employer. Because a protest is mentioned, but where? That is unclear. Without the company name, the workers' protest cannot create public pressure.

This is actually “pretending.” FOX TV acts as if it has reported on the labor protest, but when the elements are missing, the news ceases to be news. The AKP government's prohibitive stance against labor protests and strikes is already well-known. On top of that, there is a media embargo; the mainstream media, which has turned into company bulletins in recent years, completely ignores workers' search for rights.

Even Anadolu Agency, as is customary in all pro-government media, only reports on work stoppages and strikes in CHP-run municipalities. They are completely closed to other labor protests. That leaves the opposition media. Workers only try to make their voices heard by society through those outlets.

However, the opposition media also does not provide enough support to workers and their organizations, the unions. With the situation as it is, it is sad that FOX TV, which aims to engage in critical journalism, publishes news by hiding company names.

A REMINDER AS ELECTIONS APPROACH

It is perfectly natural for BirGün columnist Ateş İlyas Başsoy to write his opinions regarding CHP's candidate nominees. As an advertiser and communication expert who has run political campaigns many times before, election campaigns are exactly his area of expertise.

My only objection is regarding the way he writes about “public opinion polls.” In his article titled “What is the benefit of a female candidate?” he said, “You cannot nominate anyone other than Hasan Akgün in Büyükçekmece because all election results and polls show that Akgün has at least an additional 10 points. This is enough to make a mayor untouchable.”

Başsoy did not convey to the reader which company conducted the “polls” he mentioned, when, and most importantly, with whose funding. Yet, every piece of research gains meaning with this information.

I have written it many times before; let me remind you once again as local elections approach: it is not enough to just write vote percentages in public opinion polls. Research must be presented along with information on which company conducted it, with whose funding, when, and where, as well as the number of subjects, the form of the questions, and the margin of error.

If this information is not conveyed to the reader/viewer, political polls may result in manipulating public opinion instead of reflecting the trend in public opinion.

THE CURIOSITY THAT LEADS TO THE VOICE IN THE SUBWAY

Milliyet columnist Mehmet Tez was conveying a tragic human story in his article “A subway story.” What interested me most was the way he reached that story.

He started from the fact that the voice in the “Mind the gap” announcement, which warns passengers not to fall onto the tracks at the Embankment subway station, was different from the other stations. When he got curious and researched it, he found that the voice belonged to Oswald Laurence, a former actor.

It turns out that when Laurence passed away, his wife, Margaret McCollum, began coming to that station from time to time to find comfort by listening to her husband's voice. The reason Laurence's announcement remained at the Embankment station while announcements at the stations were being renewed years later was the respect shown to that woman and their love…

Mehmet Tez noticing that the voice at that station was different is commendable, and then pursuing and researching it is as well… He received the reward for the sense of curiosity, which is a necessary condition for journalism, by writing such a striking article… A truly enviable example…

NEW YEAR AND JOURNALISTIC DISEASES

In the news reports of Hürriyet titled “Uninterrupted assault,” Sözcü’s “Our will to take revenge for our children is complete,” and Yeni Şafak’s “Our will for revenge is complete,” it was written that Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler “managed the operations from the Air Force Operations Center throughout the night.”

In these reports, Yaşar Güler managing the military operation was met as perfectly natural. However, Yaşar Güler is no longer a soldier. He is a minister appointed by the partisan president, a politician. While the Chief of General Staff, force commanders, and generals are there, Yaşar Güler managing the military operation carries the meaning of politics interfering with the military.

The fact that the drawbacks of Yaşar Güler managing a military operation are not mentioned in the news is, I think, due to the fact that such interventions have become accustomed to since the Hulusi Akar era. Getting used to it also blinds journalists.

I hope that in the new year, our country's journalism will make progress, even if small, on the path to getting rid of such diseases. Let this be my new year's wish as well.

In one sentence:

• The arrest of Gerçek Gündem editor Furkan Karabay just for publishing a hearing transcript became a new example of the pressure on critical journalism and the decay in the judiciary.

• Milliyet has started to publish the murders committed in the last 24 hours in the form of a daily score (!) table with the headline “Many people are killed in various ways every day in Turkey” to draw attention to the increase in murders.
  
  
  

• Asking TFF President Mehmet Büyükekşi “..what do you think” instead of asking about his resignation and the criticisms while returning from Riyadh (!) was not a journalistic effort seeking answers to the question marks that emerged after the crisis.

• Sözcü TV had no right to lash out at Senem Ilgaz, who displayed appropriate behavior and informed the viewers by stating that she would grant the TOKİ President the right of reply in another program.

• Musician Muammer Ketencoğlu objected to the news about him in Yeni Asır, saying, “I have not been able to establish the connection between being a musician and being ‘born visually impaired’ for years. I have always fought against this agitation attitude, but I could not get rid of it.”

• In Sözcü’s reports “Beaten teacher connected to machine” and “Shoe argument at the entrance of the place of worship,” the word “teacher” was mistakenly written for faculty members.

• RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin, who does not appear before journalists by holding press conferences and avoids answering their questions, gave an interview to Tuba Kalçık from Sabah for the fifth time.

• Akşam and Yeni Şafak published a news-looking page prepared by an e-commerce company without putting a warning that it was an advertisement.

• In Hürriyet’s headline “Famous Sansaryan Han became a 5-star hotel,” it was not mentioned that the Constitutional Court had ruled for “violation of property rights” in the case filed by the Armenian Patriarchate and that the local court had also decided for the return of the inn to the foundation in line with the Constitutional Court’s ruling.

• An interview with Kaan Yücel, an executive of a construction company, published on Hürriyet’s website with the labels “sponsored content” and “Advertisement,” was published in the printed newspaper with the headline “We brought a district back to life” without putting an advertisement warning.

• Although it was revealed that the “Barnabas’s lost Bible was seized” news, which had been published many times before, was a game of scammers, Hürriyet, Sabah, Milli Gazete, Yeni Çağ, and Yeni Şafak once again reported “2,000-year-old Bible seized in Bursa.”

• Türkiye newspaper put the headline “Smart drug against leukemia” on its news, but the news was conveying a new treatment method, not a new drug.

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