Public ad bans on three daily newspapers

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The Press Advertisement Institution (BİK), a state agency responsible for distributing public advertisements to newspapers, has implemented penalties on two daily newspapers.

BirGün's public ads had been cut for 22 days in September as per a penalty decision issued in November 2019.

The editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, Aykut Küçükkaya, announced that He announced that the first 35-day part of the 74-day public ad ban will be implemented next month.

Küçükkaya described the decision as "a black mark in the history of the Turkish press" in his column article. "BİK is breaking records in economic sanctions against press freedom," he wrote.

The reason for the ban is news reports regarding illegal constructions on a plot in Kuzguncuk, İstanbul, which Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun had leased from the General Directorate of Foundations.

Cumhuriyet has received a total of 129 days of public ad ban since last year.

New penalty on Sözcü

The BİK has imposed a four-day ad cut penalty on daily Sözcü for column articles about a former MP of the ruling Justice and Development Party. In two articles, Saygı Öztürk explains how the spouse and a former assistant of former MP Bahar Ayvazoğlu rose in government institutions.

The BİK fined the newspaper even though a court had dismissed a lawsuit against the columnist, concluding that the articles fell within freedom of expression.

Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu had said it was "dishonorable" to write such an article.

Sözcü has been handed a total of 23 days of public ad penalties since 2019.

The Press Advertiesement Institution, ads and penalties

The Press Advertisement Institution distributed a total of 416,1 million lira (46.8 million USD) to local and national press outlets in the country in 2020.

About 182.5 million lira of this money were shared by 30 national newspapers.

Seventy-eight percent of the money allocated for the national newspapers, 141,9 million lira, were distributed between pro-government newspapers.

Six newspapers owned by two pro-government media conglomerates, the Turkuvaz Media Group and the Demirören group, 33.5 million lira and 33.1 million lira, respectively. They got 36.54 percent of the advertisement fees allocated for 30 newspapers.

In the last year, the institution imposed public ad bans for a total of 808 days. Seventy -five newspapers were fined a total of 236 for not complying with the provisions of the legislation and 35 newspapers received 572-days of fine for violating the Press Ethical Principles.

Ninety-seven percent of all ad penalties were imposed on five newspapers: Cuhuriyet (128 days), Evrensel (68 days), BirGün (61 days), Sözcü (34 days), Korkusuz (25 days).

Penalties increased by two and a half times in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2019, newspapers were fined 324 days in total.

(HA/VK)