1 M4D Project Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September 2020 Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September M4D Project This project is funded 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, Ozan Acar, Özgür Fırat Yumuşak 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 Igor Chelov, Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu and the Association of Journalists- “Press for Freedom Project” team for their research and contributions, Arife Acıyan for her graph work, Okan Özmen for his data analysis and visualization work, Ozan Acar 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 Fax: +90 312 426 06 36 E-Mail [email protected] [email protected] Web Address www.gazetecilercemiyeti.org.tr www.media4democracy.org Address Üsküp Caddesi (Çevre Sk.) M4D Project Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September 2020 Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September M4D Project No:35, Çankaya, Ankara 2 Contents 1-Atmosphere of freedom of the press in the third quarter of 2020 5 2-Freedom of the press: legal regulations, state and government policies 7 a.Legal regulations, trials, journalists in prison 7 Legal regulations 7 European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) 10 Press trials 10 b.Press-card regulations 13 c.Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) Press Advertising Authority (BİK) 14 d.Rights violations: Censorship, self-censorship, violence, targeting, threats and 16 discrimination 3-Political-economy of the media 19 a.Transparent fiscal policy, publication principles, accountability 19 b.Media ownership 20 Newspaper circulations 21 Rating shares 23 Social media impact of columnists 24 Website hits 26 4-News production and its value 30 a.News production and investigative journalism 30 b.Disinformation & the monopoly of information 31 5-Advocacy work and new initiatives by journalists 32 a.Union activities 32 b.Activities of the Association, political parties and other CSOs 33 c.International civil society and European Union activities 36 M4D Project Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September 2020 Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September M4D Project 6-Assessment and suggestions 38 3 List of tables and graphs Table-1: List of websites whose columnists are shared on social media the most .........................25 Table-2: List of most shared columnists on social media....................................................................25 Table-3: Global and Country rank of news sites ..................................................................................26 Graph-1: Graph-1: Political stance of top 19 most selling newspapers regarding the government..22 Graph-2: Newspaper circulations...........................................................................................................23 Graph-3: July-August-September 2020, TV viewer ratings between the hours 19:00-24:00.............23 Graph-4: Number of union members of the “Mass media and journalism” sector between January 2003 and July 2020 ................................................................................................................................28 M4D Project Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September 2020 Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September M4D Project 4 1-Atmosphere of freedom of the press in the third QuArter of 2020 Turkish press, as has been the case across the globe, spent the third quarter of 2020 under the shadow of Covid-19. With the increase in number of cases, many questioned the transparency of data shared by the Ministry of Health in this quarter. On the last day of this quarter, the Minister of Health stated that “Not all COVID-19 cases are patients” which caused much controversy both in the press and on social media1. Please find an assessment regarding this statement in part 4 of this report under the heading of disinformation during the pandemic. Apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the main issues defining the agenda of this quarter were regarding changes in legislation. On 21 July 2020, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was presented with a proposal “Amending the Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by Means of Such Publication”2 which quickly became effective and passed parliament to come into force on 1 October 2020. While this amendment will introduce new censorship practices targeting digital news platforms and social media, it will also subject digital conglomerates such as Google and Facebook to taxation and force them to establish representatives in Turkey. Please find an assessment of said regulation in part 2 and 3 of the report. Other issues regarding changes in legislation were the cancellations of the regulation concerning journalists receiving compensation due to depreciation which was required to be put in practise by November 2020, and the Council of State’s decision to suspend the execution of “the provision necessitating insurance coverage to acquire a press-card”3. The abrogation of severance pays, which concerns journalists closely and was widely discussed in the previous quarter, was also on the agenda of professional organizations in July4. In addition to these three important developments, although not widely discussed, the Directorate of Communication was given the duty of “designating policies regarding strategic communication and crisis management, and in this context, to ensure coordination between all public institutions and organizations in national and international activities” via presidential decree issued on 18 September 2020. Many have interpreted these new duties as institutionalizing propaganda5. Inasmuch, the decree has officially rendered all government rhetoric to originate from a single source, while also introducing Presidential supervision to statements made by senior public officials. Part 2 of the report contains more detailed information regarding changes in legal regulations. 1 http://www.diken.com.tr/her-vaka-hasta-degildir-diyen-kocaya-sosyal-medya-soruyor-vakasayisikac/ 2 https://www2.tbmm.gov.tr/d27/2/2-3050.pdf 3 https://tele1.com.tr/internet-gazetecilerinin-uzun-suredir-bekledigi-haber-danistaydan-basin-kartlari-icin-flas-karar-204174/ 4 https://tele1.com.tr/basin-orgutlerinden-kidem-aciklamasi-kalemlerimiz-uzerinde-baski-artacak-183862/ 5 https://www.evrensel.net/yazi/87180/stratejik-sansur-hamlesi 2020 Media Monitoring Report:July-August-September M4D Project 5 As has been the case in previous quarters, the third quarter of the year was marked by administrative fines issued to media organizations by RTÜK (Radio and Television Supreme Board) and BİK (Press Advertising Authority). Many trials that had been postponed due to the pandemic also took place in this quarter. Meanwhile, efforts to weaken the professional unity of lawyers were put into effect with the enactment of the Multiple Bar Proposal. Again, freedom of the expression and the press spent this quarter in courtrooms. Witch hunts targeting famous journalists Can Dündar, Deniz Yücel and Müyesser Yıldız persisted in this quarter. In addition to court cases filed against journalists in July-August-September, censorship and blocking practices continued similar to previous quarters. Especially in September, many politicians belonging to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested during the “Kobani protests”. Ali Ürküt, HDP’s RTÜK representative was also among those taken into custody. Both before and after, unsurprisingly, online media outlets Özgürüz Radyo, Jinnews, Siyasi Haber, Yeni Yaşam newspaper, Sendika.org, and Mesopotamia Agency -all known for their oppositional stances- were subject to access restrictions. According to an article published at the end of the quarter by Reporters Without Borders, Turkey has blocked access to at least 347 pieces of news content over the past three months6. For more information about these developments, please refer to part 2 of the report. In this quarter of the year, important developments occurred of symbolic value that granted insight into the situation of freedom of expression in Turkey in the short term. During the Opening Ceremony of the Judicial Year, President Erdoğan said “We have ensured that the right to criticize and give news as part of freedom of expression is based on stronger ground in the legislation.”7 which was in stark