Pressure ramps up on Turkish news media as elections near

Turkey’s independent news televisions are crashing under heavy fines and penalties by the country’s broadcasting watchdog RTUK. TV executives say RTUK is trying to force them to cave by imposing self-censorship or selling their broadcasting licenses ahead of the upcoming election period. 

The fines came as the Turkish is expected to pass a draft bill criminalizing social media posts deemed as “fake” and amid a mass arrest of the journalists in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, underscoring the fears of increasing pressure on the media ahead of the elections scheduled for June 2023.

The latest in a string of controversies surrounding the RTUK decisions came after the watchdog slapped heavy fines on five TV stations that aired a statement by Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Citing loaded money transfers to the United States by education foundations tied to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s personal circle, Kilicdaroglu claimed that the transfers were part of the president’s plans to “flee the country” if he loses the upcoming election. 

“These fines are upending the concept of newsworthiness,” Turkish columnist and former professor of communication Tezcan Durna told Al-Monitor. "Journalism in Turkey was already difficult, but now it has become impossible," he added.