Hamdi Firat BuyukSarajevoBIRNFebruary 22, 202316:13The state agency that monitors radio and television broadcasts fined 3 TV channels for their coverage of the government’s quake response, in what unions and watchdogs called another blow to media freedom.
Illustration: Pinho/Unsplash
Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, the state agency that monitors and sanctions radio and television broadcasts, sanctioned three TV channels on Wednesday over their coverage of the earthquake disaster that devastated Turkey’s south and south-eastern provinces on February 6.
Ilhan Tasci, an RTUK member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP said the fines were clearly political. “Those who follow the truth are expected to drown in silence. All this haste [by the ruling parry] to avoid losing power in the elections.”
RTUK fined Fox TV and Halk TV 3 per cent of their monthly advertisement income due to the comments of their journalists on the government’s slow and ineffective earthquake response.
Halk TV was fined 5 per cent of its monthly advertisement income and programmes were stopped five times due to the comments of Ahmet Sik, a lawmaker with the Workers’ Party of Turkey, TIP.
Tele 1 TV channel was given the same fines due to the comments of journalists regarding the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and its policies.
Turkey was hit by strong quakes registering 7.9 and 7.7 on richter scale on February 6. Since then, it is estimated that over 42,000 people died and more than 108,000 were injured, while millions have lost their homes.
The government has faced harsh criticism over it poor response to the disaster and for not using the vast resources of Turkish military on time.
Media experts and journalists’ unions ondemned the fines.
Gurkan Ozturan, Coordinator of Media Freedom Rapid Response at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom told BIRN: “This action is an open attempt at intervention into the independence of the media and it damages and disturbs the much-needed free information landscape at a crucial moment when millions are left homeless.”
“RTUK has again punished Fox TV, Tele 1 and Halk TV for their news and programs about the earthquake. Instead of spending overtime on ‘Who does not praise the government?’, take care of the earthquake victims!” the Journalists’ Union of Turkey, TGS, told the authorities.
The opposition, experts and international rights groups have accused the RTUK of going all out to punish independent media and of acting as a tool of the authoritarian government of President Erdogan.
The government previously blocked most access to Twitter and TikTok and slowed down the internet, complaining about “misinformation”, as public anger mounted about the government’s response to the crisis.
Access to social media networks and the internet were fully restored a day later, however, following harsh criticism of the move. Critics accused the government of cutting off a key source of communication for relatives of victims, survivors and aid campaigners.
Turkey ranked in 153rd place out of 180 countries in 2022 in the latest press freedom index of watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders, RSF, which classifies the Turkish government’s control over media outlets as high.
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