Striking criticism of Ahmet Hakan in Faruk Bildirici's column: 'He hid that he was protecting his boss's interests'

Media Ombudsman Faruk Bildirici targeted Hürriyet Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Hakan in his article titled "Newspapers no longer reach hundreds of settlements".

Criticizing Ahmet Hakan's article titled "Agenda: Gambling sites and illegal betting", Faruk Bildirici argued that Hakan was protecting his boss's interests by ignoring the Demirören Group's legal gambling and betting operations. He stated that Hakan's article and Hürriyet's reports were incomplete and misleading, and that they were deceiving the reader.

"HE HID THAT HE WAS PROTECTING HIS BOSS'S INTERESTS"

Here is what Faruk Bildirici wrote about Ahmet Hakan in his column on 12punto.com.tr:

Hürriyet Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Hakan recently wrote an article titled "Agenda: Gambling sites and illegal betting". Ahmet Hakan, his newspaper, and his boss may have such an agenda, but the media does not actually have such an agenda beyond mentioning it from time to time.

Ahmet Hakan had devoted his entire column that day to this topic. He was explaining at length the harms of "virtual gambling and illegal betting". He complained, saying, "You have closed the casinos, you do not allow them legally, but who listens to your ban? Gambling sites on the internet are running like clockwork," and argued that "a total struggle is essential."

How important an agenda item illegal gambling and betting sites are for Hürriyet is evident from the fact that news on this subject is published almost every day following Ahmet Hakan's article. The report titled "The three losers of illegal betting and gambling: Economy/society/people" was followed by the reports "Warning came from CHP: Illegal betting is a survival issue" and "Gambling is virtual, the fraud is real," as well as Fatih Çekirge's article "Illegal betting and gambling alarm from Yeşilay."

Ahmet Hakan's article and Hürriyet's reports are crippled by omissions. It is not written that legal virtual gambling and betting businesses in Turkey are operated by the Demirören Group, which also owns Hürriyet. Milli Piyango, which offers Numerical Games, Scratch Cards, National Lottery, and Virtual Games, as well as Misli.com, which offers "fixed-odds betting games," Iddaa.com and Nesine.com, which offer betting games, and Hipodrom.com, which offers horse racing bets, are all Demirören Group companies.

Moreover, according to the Türkiye newspaper, there are also "slot-like games found in casinos," i.e., gambling games, on Demirören's sites. By publishing articles and news without mentioning that the existence of illegal gambling and betting sites primarily harms the profits of the Demirören Group, Ahmet Hakan is hiding that he is protecting his boss's interests; he is deceiving his reader.

So, while struggling so hard to explain the harms of illegal gambling and betting and how they cause addiction in young people, shouldn't one also mention the harms of the legal ones, even if just a little?"

READ THE FULL COLUMN BY FARUK BİLDİRİCİ HERE

News Source: 12punto