Turkey's media regulatory body issued 1,661 fines against media outles in 2021

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The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has published its annual report for 2021.

The council fined 1,661 fines worth 55.82 million lira (3.8 million US dollars) against media outlets in a year, the report showed. It generated an income of 17.1 million lira out of the fines.

Throughout the year, 236 lawsuits were filed against the council. Ninety-one of the cases were concluded in favor of the council while 11 of them were concluded against it. Some 134 cases have not been decided yet.

140 of those cases were filed against administrative monetary fines on media outlets and 35 were filed against broadcast suspensions.

Between 2017 and 2021, some 1,566 lawsuits were filed against the council. The RTÜK won 853 of the cases and lost 190 of them. 233 of the cases are still continuing.

In a year, the RTÜK filed 129 separate criminal complaints against various service providers, real persons and social media accounts.

The RTÜK has been widely criticized for using its aurhotity to impose punitive measures against media outlets critical of the government.

CLICK - RTÜK penalized only critical TV outlets in 2021

Complaints from citizens

The council received 44,176 complaints from citizens in a year. Among those who reported complaints, 64.3 percent were men and 35.7 percent were women and 33.4 percent were university graduates.

Nearly 30 percent of the complaints were against TV series, 16.1 percent were about reality shows and 7.9 percent were about "commentary programs."

The most common reason for the complaints was "violation of the principle of general morality, spiritual values and the protection of the family." It was followed by insulting people and institutions and "broadcasting damaging the youth's physical, mental and moral development." (TP/VK)