Sabah columnist Melih Altınok apologizes to IMM after publishing fake news

Sabah newspaper columnist Melih Altınok, in an article he wrote after a news story presented as "Mushrooms are growing on IETT buses"—which had appeared in pro-government media—turned out to be false, stated: "Yes, the idea of mushrooms growing on IMM buses, which are constantly on the agenda for their lack of maintenance, did not seem like such a surreal claim to me. It was consistent with the natural flow of life. The images were also sufficiently clear. I wrote an ironic piece because I thought it described the tragicomic level the problem had reached very well."

Stating, "I should have been more careful as the election process approaches," Altınok wrote, "I apologize to Murat Ongun and my readers."

WHAT HAD MELİH ALTINOK SAID?

Melih Altınok had featured the story titled "Mushrooms are growing on IETT buses," which was circulated by pro-government media, in his column. In his article titled "Admit it, the mushrooms are good!", Altınok had used the following expressions;

“Yes, yes, the kind of mushroom with a cap that you know; not mold or anything.

I don't know what its sign is or what state it's been in since Mercury retrograde entered the metro and broke the escalators, but we are waiting for a statement from Murat Ongun regarding the claim.

After all, they say "organic" in the news, but they could also be button mushrooms.

What if they are poisonous? It's a mushroom, you never know what it might do.

By the way, confess, Murat; we are talking as two journalists, when you saw the mushrooms, you also said 'wow' to yourself, didn't you?”

News Source: 12punto