Diyarbakır’s Gün TV Punished with Programme Ban

The Diyarbakır province election board has claimed that Gün TV, a local TV station broadcasting in the southeastern province and wider area, has favoured the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on its channel.

The TV channel has been told that its punishment is a six-day ban on its 7.30 pm main news programme.

When the Yenişehir district election board handed down the punishment on 11 March, broadcasting editor Diren Keser appealed to the Diyarbakır election board. However, the latter approved the decision on 14 March.

Law 3984 said to be violated

The decision cited Article 4 of Law 3984 on Radio and TV institutions and broadcasts, which says that broadcasts must provide equality of opportunity to all political parties and democratic groups, must not broadcast one-sided, biased programmes, and must not violate certain broadcasting limitations in pre-election periods.

The punishment was put into practice on Sunday, 15 March, and the main news programme will not be broadcast until 21 March.

The decision by the Yenişehir district election board was signed by board president Oktay Kuban and two civil servant members, as well as a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a member of the Democrat Party (DP), and a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

TV channel official Ahmet Birsin told bianet, “We showed them our broadcast recordings, but when some members pulled out, the other members voted for a punishment.”

The board decision claims that Gün TV was favouring the DTP and was reporting on the municipalities run by members of that party, and thus not obeying the principle of neutrality.

The file sent by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) was evaluated by the Yenişehir board, which said that it could not find violations in the nine days that had been complained about, but that during the six days of 3 to 10 February 2009, Laws 3983 and 298 and Decree 336 of the Supreme Election Board had been violated. (EÖ/AG)