28/12/2023 | Writer: Selma Koçak
Halk TV’s Halk Meydanı program, hosted by İrfan Değirmenci, has been imposed on 3 per cent administrative fine on the grounds of “violation of national and moral values due to LGBT+ ratings”.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP İlhan Taşçı, one of the members of Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), announced the latest decisions of the year.
Taşçı said that Halk TV had been given a 3 per cent administrative fine for “violating national and moral values due to its LGBT+ ratings”, announcing the fines RTÜK had issued on the channels on its X account.
Tuncay Keser, another member of the RTÜK from the CHP, stated that Halk TV had received this punishment “on the grounds that the broadcast of Halk Meydanı on 24th and 25th of November infringed the principle that ‘media services shall not be contrary to the national and moral values of the society, general morality and the principle of protection of family’.”
The program, hosted by İrfan Değirmenci, featured feminists, women and LGBTI+ rights activists, including Esmeray Özadikti, as part of the November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Taşçı listed the fines issued by the RTÜK against television channels as follows:
“The Supreme Council imposed 3 per cent fines and 2 program suspensions on the series ‘Kızıl Goncalar’, which fictionally portrays the inner workings of sects and communities, for offending against the ‘national and moral values of the society’.”
Fox TV was fined 3 per cent for failing to be ‘impartial’ in its coverage of the son of the Somali president, who killed courier Yunus Emre Göçer by beating him, and the attack on referee Halil Umut Meler by Faruk Koca, former president of Ankaragücü.
Halk TV was also subjected to 3 per cent administrative fine issued by the RTÜK on the grounds of ‘media services shall not present the act, the perpetrators and the victims of terror in a way serving for the interests of the terror’; and another 3 per cent administrative fine was imposed on Halk TV due to evaluations on LGBTI+ related issues on the grounds of being ‘contrary to the national and moral values of the society’.
The RTÜK decided by a majority vote to impose a 3 per cent administrative fine on the grounds of violation of ‘impartiality’ for broadcasting a program on SZC television in which a TurkStat employee was quoted as saying that he had received bonuses and promotions in return for underestimating unemployment.
The RTÜK imposed a 3 per cent administrative fine on Tele 1 for ‘defamation of persons’, a 3 per cent fine on the same channel for a program that discussed methods of money laundering, and a 3 per cent fine on the channel for ‘glorifying criminals’ for a program that discussed Yılmaz Güney.
KRT was fined 3 per cent for ‘defamation’ after Zafer Arapkirli had criticized Labour Minister Işıkhan for saying that ‘extreme poverty does not exist’ and commented on Health Minister Koca’s hand gesture referring ‘money’ while talking about the doctors who go abroad.
TGRT was subject to a 3 per cent fine for ‘surreptitious commercial communication’ due to the appearance of a Starbucks cup in the news bulletin.”
Tags: human rights, media
