RTÜK President Şahin: The supreme Turkish justice system will impose the punishment they deserve

Şahin shared an “Important Warning and Reminder to Our Media” on his social media account. In his post, Şahin addressed that those responsible for Narin’s death would face their punishment, stating, “The murder of our little Narin has broken our hearts. The murder case is before the judiciary. The supreme Turkish justice system will impose the punishment they deserve on the person or persons responsible.”

Stating that during the days when there was a publication ban regarding the incident, some media outlets were witnessed to have a dismissive attitude toward the court and engaged in reckless broadcasting, Şahin noted the following:

“With the relevant court lifting the publication ban, reports on the subject have reached dimensions that exceed their purpose. We see that some media organizations are adopting a sensationalist stance instead of reflecting the truth. In such a sensitive situation, our expectation from our media is to demonstrate a meticulous and clean approach to journalism. We would like to remind all our media that while there is freedom of publication regarding matters referred to the judiciary, it is essential to avoid attitudes that would affect the scales of justice.”

“We are facing an approach that continues its broadcasts without heeding any warnings”

Noting that the “Broadcasting Principles” in Law No. 6112, the “Media Ethical Principles” signed and approved by all media in Turkey, and universal press principles are known to all members of the press, Şahin stated, “Reports that do not fit into the conscience, are far from responsible broadcasting, and are made by getting caught up in the lust for ratings with false, incorrect, and unverified information, entering into disturbing details over the body of our little child, have exceeded the limits of tolerance. We are facing an approach that continues its broadcasts without heeding any warnings.”

“Lawless broadcasters are not abandoning their same wrong attitudes”

Stating that all broadcasters were called one by one by the RTÜK Monitoring Department, Şahin used the following expressions:

“They were advised to abandon broadcasts that exceed the purpose regarding the incident. However, lawless broadcasters are not abandoning their same wrong attitudes. Our follow-ups regarding media organizations that still violate broadcasting principles after this final warning of ours will be brought to the agenda at the first Supreme Council meeting. We invite our media to act with common sense and to engage in principled and accurate journalism. Otherwise, the steps the Supreme Council will take are clear. We also thank our broadcaster friends who complied with the rules during the period when the publication ban was in effect and who have acted responsibly and have not compromised on a principled news approach after the ban was lifted. Respectfully announced to the public.”

News Source: İHA