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The partial representation of different political parties in the media in the period leading up to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections on June 24, 2018 has also been criticized by two columnists, one of whom writes for a newspaper that is still pro-government and the other one writes for a newspaper that used to be close to the government.
In his column which he wrote at the pro-government Yeni Şafak newspaper on May 8, Ali Saydam ended his article with the following words:
"... how right is it that the media, especially the TV channels, broadcast only the speeches of Dear President while they do not give much chance to the opposition, and does this attitude serve to the promise-persuasion process or does it lead to power pollution or would the opposition benefit from it by creating victimhood, that needs to be evaluated properly..."
Akif Beki, who was the press consultant and spokesperson of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and the then Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan between the years 2005 and 2009, wrote a column at Karar newspaper on May 9, where he stated,
"How badly did the supposedly destructive political currents like National Vision, which they demonized by saying this danger of reactionism or that threat of separatism, from the cartel media of old times... It is not for nothing that President Erdoğan says that he has come to power by fighting with headlines such as 'He cannot become even a mukhtar* ." Now, it is the presidential candidate of [the main opposition party Republican People's Party] CHP Muharrem İnce, who talks about 'a fight with the headlines.' The roles have been switched, that is all. The cartel media of the old times has died, long live the new one which is far worse, is it like that?" (ŞA/SD)
* Head of a village or neighborhood
