As a result of their reporting on government handling of the disaster, Halk TV, Tele 1 and FOX have been penalised.
Turkiye’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, the government telecommunications regulator known as RTUK, fined three TV channels over critical coverage of the response to earthquakes that hit the country.
According to Balkan Insight, RTUK fined Fox TV, Halk TV and Tele 1 TV between 3-5% of their monthly ad income due to the comments of their journalists on the government’s slow and ineffective response to the disaster.
It adds that RTUK’s action has been widely criticised by the opposition, experts and international rights groups as an attempt to punish independent media and acting in support of the government.
The three channels are known for editorial lines critical of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Halk TV is strongly aligned with the CHP party, Turkey’s main opposition.
Halk TV was fined 5% of its monthly advertisement income and programs were stopped five times due to the comments of Ahmet Sik, a lawmaker with the Workers’ Party of Turkiye.
Local and international media experts and journalists’ unions also condemned the fines, with media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists calling on Turkish authorities to revoke the penalties and safeguard media freedom in the country.
Turkey in October passed a law punishing the dissemination of “fake news” by up to three years in prison.
Turkiye was devastated by a series of earthquakes that hit the country’s south and southeastern provinces on February 6.
