M4D Project Media Monitoring Report January-February-March 20201 January-February-March Media Monitoring Report M4D Project 1 This project is finansed by the European Union An Association of Journalists Press House Publication This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Association of Journalists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. Media for Democracy, Democracy for Media Project”, implemented by the Association of Journalists with the financial support of the European Union, has prepared this report through utilizing open sources, scanning developments in the media, documenting violations reported to the project office, and through making use of the content of reports written by the Association of Journalists- “Press for Freedom Project.” This report may be reproduced partially or in whole by giving reference. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Association of Journalists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. Editors: Yusuf Kanlı, Kenan Şener Thanks: We would like to thank our team-mates for their dedication and hard work in writing this report. We would like to extend our thanks to Ozan Acar, Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu and the Association of Journalists- “Press for Freedom Project” team for their research and contributions, Arife Avcıoğlu Acıyan for her graph work, Okan Özmen for his data analysis and visualization work, Deniz Savaş and Korhan Ön for translating the report into English, Lawyer Tuncay Alemdaroğlu and Prof. Korkmaz Alemdar for their guidance, and Chairman of the Association of Journalists Nazmi Bilgin for his support in making all of this possible. Without their contributions, this report would have never been completed. The Association of Journalists Phone: Mobile:+90 533 045 08 67 Phone/Fax: +90 312 468 12 09 E-Mail [email protected] [email protected] Web Address www.gc-tr.org www.media4democracy.org Address Üsküp Street (Çevre Street) No:35, Çankaya, Ankara CONTENTS 1-Atmosphere of Freedom of the Press in the First Quarter of 2021 5 2-Freedom of the press: legal regulations, state and government policies 7 a.Legal regulations, trials, journalists in prison 7 Legal regulations 7 Constitutional Court 11 European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) 13 Press trials 14 b.Press-card regulations 18 c.Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) Press Advertising Authority (BİK) 21 d.Rights violations: Censorship, self-censorship, violence, targeting, threats and discrimination 25 3-Political-economy of the media 31 a.Transparent financial policy, publication principles, accountability 31 b.Media ownership 32 Newspaper circulation 35 Rating Shares 37 Social media impact of columnists 38 Website Visits 40 c.Situation of Press Workers 41 4-News production and its value 43 a.News production and investigative journalism 43 b.Disinformation & the monopoly of information 44 5-Advocacy work and new initiatives by journalists 49 a.Union activities 49 b.Activities of the Association, political parties and other CSOs 51 c.International civil society and European Union activities 54 6-Assessment and suggestions 56 LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPHS TABLE-1: List of websites whose columnists’ articles are shared on social media the most………...38 TABLE-2: List of columnists shared on social media the most ..........................................................39 TABLE-3: Global and local ranking of news sites ……......................……......................……......................40 GRAPH-1: Changes in the number of press cards since 2018.............................................................19 GRAPH-2: Political stance of 19 newspapers according to circulation rates. ...................................36 GRAPH-3: Newspaper circulations from the beginning of 01/01/2021 to 31/03/2021 ...................36 GRAPH-4: January-February-March 2021, Rating Shares of all viewers between the hours 19:00- 24:00. ......................................................................................................................................................37 GRAPH-5: 2003 January- 2021 January Number of union members in the “mass media and journalism” sector. ..................................................................................................................................41 1-Atmosphere of freedom of the press in the first QuArter of 2021 Following a rough 2020, the new year began hopeful. Reforms in the judiciary and economy, an action plan on human rights, and the possibility of a new and more inclusive constitution made the headlines. Though, neither statements by the President and government officials nor the Human Rights Action Plan1 were satisfactory2. Official statements underlining a stronger democracy were deemed unrealistic promises. Antidemocratic actions in the first quarter of 2021 did not correspond to the pledges. Students and the academic staff of Boğaziçi University protested the appointment of a new Rector, but protests were brutally suppressed, resulting in many students being taken into custody. Journalists covering the protests were also assaulted. International human’s rights organizations called the Turkish government to release the students3. Pro-government media targeted academicians and students. Disinformation surrounding the protests worsened the situation in the already polarized nation. In this report, we documented human rights violations, infringement of journalistic principles, and violations carried out against freedom of the press during the Boğaziçi University protests. Turkey’s decision to withdraw form “İstanbul Convention” was also a highlight of the first quarter of 2021. The convention had been unanimously adopted in parliament, but the decision to withdraw was via Presidential decree, which demonstrated that the new presidential system enables arbitrary interference with democracy. Boğaziçi University students were marginalized and so were supporters of the İstanbul Convention. “Operation Gara” which left 13 civilians killed, was the focus of a cry to combat terrorism, and was followed by a motion by Devlet Bahçeli, Chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), to shut down Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). The indictment to shut down HDP and stripping Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, human rights advocate and member of parliament, from his parliamentary status; overshadowed the autonomy of the parliament and the people’s will. All of the above rendered the Human Rights Action Plan and the hope for a new and more inclusive constitution unrealistic. In the first quarter of 2021, journalists were targeted by politicians and were later attacked in public. Impunity against attacks on journalism inevitably makes way to new attacks, as with the case of Hazım Özsu, a radio programmer based in Bursa, who was murdered by a listener who did not approve 1 https://rayp.adalet.gov.tr/resimler/1/dosya/insan-haklari-ep02-03-202115-14.pdf 2 https://t24.com.tr/haber/insan-haklari-eylem-plani-ni-neden-kimse-tatmin-edici-bulmadi-393-faaliyet-var-ama-sozlesmeler-ve-tmk- yok,936494 3 https://www.hrw.org/tr/news/2021/02/18/377883 20201 January-February-March Media Monitoring Report M4D Project 5 of Özsu’s radio show. During the first quarter of 2021, journalists Afşin Hatipoğlu, Orhan Uğuroğlu, Levent Gültekin, Osman Güdü, Ferruh Varanoğlu, Kıymet Sarıyıldız, Murat Uçkaç, İzzet Tınmaz and Ali Osman Ertaş were assaulted. While covering the protests at Boğaziçi University, 20 journalists were injured by rubber bullets. According to Utku Çakırözer, former journalists and a member of parliament form the Republican People’s Party (CHP), 40 journalists have been physically assaulted in the course of three months. Concerns over the attacks on journalists will be further elaborated on the report. 20 journalists including Müyesser Yıldız, Hakan Aygün, İnan Kızılkaya and İdris Sayılgan were sentenced to imprisonment at the ongoing trials in the first quarter of the year. At least 24 journalists and press workers have been arrested in the last three months. On this report of the M4D Project, data on arrests and trials gathered from the monthly Press for Freedom Reports published by the Association of Journalists will be further elaborated. Certain rulings on fundamental rights, freedom expression and of the press by the Constitutional Court and the Council of State were deemed progressive. These rulings signalled a message of freedom to regulatory and supervisory bodies, as well as to law enforcement and to the judiciary. Among those rulings were the verdict of “violation of rights” on the cases of journalist Beyza Kural and newspapers Sol and Korkusuz, as well as the debated Press Card Regulation, which made way to the arbitrary authentication of press cards. Rulings are further elaborated on the report. 2021 also marks the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic still poses a threat on human lives and causes uneasiness in society. Physical and mental hardship aside, the pandemic advanced digital transformation. Moreover, the pandemic altered the daily practices of journalism, weakened the contact between journalists and their sources, and newsrooms. Though digital transformation has its advantages, it also poses a threat of possible right violations against journalists in the post- pandemic era. It is understood that working remotely will be permanent for many journalists in the foreseeable future, therefore this report covers the working conditions of journalists with