Media censorship and disinformation during the Gezi Park protests

broadcast van has been covered with protest graffiti, in response to the indifference of mainstream media to protests. History Censorship is a common issue in Turkey. Since 2011, the AKP has increasingly levied restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and internet use, and television content, as well as the right to free assembly. It has also developed links with media groups, and used administrative and legal measures (including, in one case, a $2.5 billion tax fine) against critical media groups and critical journalists: "over the last decade the AKP has built an informal, powerful, coalition of party-affiliated businessmen and media outlets whose livelihoods depend on the political order that Erdoğan is constructing. Those who resist do so at their own risk." Televisions [On the afternoon of Friday, May 31, 2013] CNN Turk was broadcasting a food show, featuring the "flavors of Niğde." Other major Turkish news channels were showing a dance contest and a roundtable on study-abroad programs. It was a classic case of the revolution not being televised. The whole country seemed to be experiencing a cognitive disconnect, with Twitter saying one thing, the government saying another, and the television off on another planet. • At 1 am on 2 June, CNN Turk was broadcasting a documentary on penguins while CNN International was showing live coverage of the protests in Turkey. "Many of the protesters complained about the lack of coverage on Turkish television. Some newspapers too were largely silent on the protests: on Saturday morning [2 June], the lead article in Sabah, a major pro-government newspaper, was about Erdoğan's campaign against smoking." Sabah's front page on 2 June did not feature the protests at all, but found space to cover "President Abdullah Gul being presented with a horse during his official visit to Turkmenistan." • On 3 June, the TV game show Kelime Oyunu ("Word Game"), on Bloomberg HT TV, hosted by Ali İhsan Varol supported the protests by placing 70 questions and answers (e.g. "gazmaskesi", gas masks) that referred to the protests. A previous attempt to smuggle protest support into other television shows included Kenan Doğulu taking off his top on a Turkish TV show ("Elidor Miss Turkey", Star TV, 31 May) to reveal an "Occupy Gezi" T-shirt. , which also broadcast a documentary instead of the protests. • On 3 June, thousands of white-collar people working in the financial district of Maslak and Levent were gathered in front of Doğuş Media Center to protest coverage by Doğuş Holding's NTV, one of the major news channels. NTV was forced to broadcast events live, while protesters chanted "satılmış medya istemiyoruz" ("We do not want media that is for sale."), "Tayyip istifa" ("Resign Tayyip"), "Her yer Taksim, her yer direniş" ("Taksim everywhere, resistance everywhere"). Some NTV staff resigned in protest at the lack of coverage. The CEO of Doğuş Media Group, Cem Aydın, conceded that the criticisms were "fair to a large extent", and that "Our audience feels like they were betrayed." Shortly after his comments, Aydın left Doğuş Media. Newspapers • Seven pro-government newspapers were published with an identical headline in support of Erdoğan on June 7. Social media As a result of the lack of mainstream media coverage, social media played a key role in keeping people informed, with Twitter hashtags #OccupyGezi and #DirenGeziParki ("Resist, Gezi Park") being adopted. In the 12 hours from 4 pm 31 May, there were more than 2 million tweets for the 3 leading hashtags, with 88% in Turkish and 90% of geolocated tweets coming from Turkey. A December 2012 Pew Research Center study showed 35% of Turks using social networking sites. Sixteen people in İzmir and thirteen people in Adana were detained for posting provocative messages on Twitter but were released later. Sabah wrote that some of those people were arrested for tweets about actions like "We've burned Bank Asya", "We destroyed the Körfez cram school", "We've burned the FEM cram school". There were reports that the 3G signal in some areas had been turned off; in response, some shops and offices removed security from their Wifi networks. Rumours of censorship led to increasing use of virtual private networks (VPNs) during the protests. According to The Economist, "Mr Erdogan's perceived enemies" have been "inundated with menacing tweets." These include a correspondent covering the protests being called a "dirty Armenian" and "a slut" by pro-government supporters. Reactions to censorship • NTV Turkey refused to air a BBC World News package on press freedom in Turkey; in response, the BBC suspended its contract with the channel. • A campaign was started to force CNN International to pull its name franchise from CNN Türk in response to its lack of coverage of the protests as well as the aforementioned infamous penguin incident. More than 108,000 people signed the petition. Pressure on journalists • According to the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS), at least 22 journalists have been fired and 37 forced to quit over their coverage of the Gezi Park protests. • The controversial mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, who is also a member of the ruling AKP launched a Twitter campaign against Selin Girit of BBC, accusing her of being an English spy and trying to undermine the Turkish economy in her reporting. • Turkey's premier popular history magazine NTV Tarih was closed down by its administration, because it was preparing a special issue on Gezi Park protests. Owner of the magazine was Doğuş Media Group, also owner of the NTV television channel. CEO of the group Ferit Şahenk was criticised for his auto-censorship policy, which was aimed not to anger the AKP government. and as a book by the sacked journalists of NTV Tarih. • Later in June, the state media regulator RTÜK fined a number of channels (including Halk TV and Ulusal Kanal) "for 'harming the physical, moral and mental development of children and young people' by broadcasting coverage of the Gezi Park protests". Members of RTÜK are appointed by the government, and the fines were approved by the 6 AKP members of the 9-member group, against the 3 votes of the opposition. • The governor of Eskişehir sent a threatening e-mail to the journalist İsmail Saymaz, over his reports on a Gezi protester's murder in Eskişehir. • Mehmet Barlas, chief editor of the pro-AKP newspaper Sabah wrote that the CEO of the Doğan Holding Aydın Doğan should warn his writers who sympathize with Gezi park protesters. A few days later Akif Beki, a pro-AKP columnist started writing for Hürriyet, Doğan Holding's main newspaper. • Administration of Sabah newspaper fired its ombudsman Yavuz Baydar because he criticised the newspaper's disinformative approach during Gezi protests. ==Disinformation during protests==