"PANEL ON ACCURATE JOURNALISM IN EXTRAORDINARY PERIODS FROM THE CONTEXT OF MEDIA ETHICS"

Our university participated in the "Panel on Accurate Journalism in Extraordinary Periods in the Context of Media Ethics" hosted by the Presidential Communications Directorate. The panel continued with the opening speech of Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, after the National Anthem and the minute of silence.

President Altun; ' Turkey is being designed with disinformation'

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said that disinformation has started to show itself more and more as a threat in every field. In his speech here, Altun said that disinformation has started to show itself more and more as a threat in every field. He emphasised the importance of TRT and Anadolu Agency in the fight against disinformation. Altun said, "Those who tried to design Turkey with coups and economic attacks and failed to succeed, are trying to do this today with purposeful false information."

Stating that there are attempts to polarise the country with disinformation news, Altun said: "Today, disinformation is becoming more and more a threat to individual, social and national security. Attempts to wear down our country and our institutions are carried out with multi-dimensional attacks in many fields from politics to media. Fake news and disinformation are instrumentalised to create artificial social polarisations and disrupt political stability."

Following the speech of Fahrettin Altun, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, TRT General Director Mehmet Zahid Sobacı spoke. Sobacı said, "It is vital that media ethical principles such as confirmed information sharing, public interest and social observation, common sense and responsible behaviour in extraordinary situations are also valid for social media channels." He also stated that a virtual universe such as social media channels, which are easy to access but difficult to confirm, has been added as an alternative to traditional corporate media processes.

Pointing out the importance of personalising media ethics, adopting professional ethical principles and raising awareness of the society on this issue, Sobacı emphasised that disinformation reaches an extreme level especially in social media during disaster periods. Sobacı said the following:

"A climate of fear and anxiety is being created through the sharing of unconfirmed information, which is often done deliberately. The chaotic environment deepens when the curiosity of interaction and well-intentioned people increase their sharing with the aim of doing something. However, social media has the potential to provide a strong communication ground to ensure fast news flow, facilitate organisation, expand mobilisation, and mobilise in times of disaster. What renders this potential unusable is a series of intense disinformation and emotional realities that make lies inseparable from the truth. In an environment where the source sharing the content does not clearly identify itself, it is not possible for it to refer to another source and for this to be reliable."

Sobacı stated that, a content that is popular in social media, whether it has a connection with reality or not, finds a place as news in traditional media just because of the interaction it receives, further expands the sphere of influence of this fictional spiral.

"Therefore, a traditional social media is now in an intricate structure, in a context that affects and transforms." said Sobacı and continued as follows:

"That is why it is vital that media ethical principles such as sharing confirmed information, public interest and social consideration, protecting the privacy of private life, respecting the right to reply and correction, and acting prudently and responsibly in times of emergency should also apply to social media channels. We have experienced that all these principles were ruthlessly disregarded during the earthquake."

Explaining the work they do as TRT to combat disinformation within the framework of ethical principles, Sobacı said, "These sensitivities we have shown in the field of broadcasting in extraordinary periods are a requirement of media ethics as well as our responsibility for public broadcasting. Therefore, these are issues that are of great importance to be sensitised by all components of the media. Otherwise, we would not be able to do justice to our job and the responsibility we carry."

Following the speeches of TRT General Director Mehmet Zahid Sobacı, Yusuf Özhan, Deputy General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of Anadolu Agency (AA), started the first session of the panel titled "Media and Ethics: Disinformation, Privacy and Fictional Reality".

Stating that readers, listeners and viewers have become news producers at the same time, Özhan explained that this has led to some problems.

Özhan stated that fake news, content that is transmitted to create an effect-response on purpose and that combines narratives that do not tell the whole is the problem of journalism all over the world.

"Of course, news has to reflect the truth and it has its own discipline," Özhan said, adding that AA launched the AA Confirmation Line about a year ago to combat fake news in an institutionalised way.

Özhan stated that the whole struggle is not only about the flames of the fire, but also about preventing the fire from starting and underlined that these studies should be made widespread.

Giving examples from the use of social media, Özhan said, "We are exposed to a lot of content on social media. We only look at the details of 10 per cent of the content we encounter."

Stating that a post is evaluated with its title or shared with the comments of trusted people without reading the content, Özhan said, "AA Confirmation Line is a work that we have made right to the point, but it is only the first step to eliminate or combat problems in social media or communication platforms more effectively."

AA Board Member and Istanbul University Faculty of Communication Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. İsmail Çağlar emphasised that journalists should be separated from content producers or people who provide news in some way due to their work, institution and connections.

Drawing attention to the importance of media ethics, Çağlar stated that the main responsibility for its implementation falls on journalists.

Stating that the fact that digital content producers claim to be journalists and that some journalists embrace this with a false illusion of professional solidarity creates a huge problem, Çağlar said, "People can produce content, but if they do not have that code, that ethics, that morality, they are not journalists, they are content producers."

Explaining that some people report news contrary to media ethics in states of emergency and war zones without any training, Çağlar said, "The picture we see today is that the profession has begun to lose its prestige again and is being eroded."

Speaking at the session chaired by Prof. Dr. Fatih Keskin, Faculty Member of Ankara University Faculty of Communication, TRT News Announcer Cengizhan Cevahiroğlu stated that social media is preferred more because it is creative and said that there is a mediocrity in television and newspapers, even though events are viewed from different perspectives.

Cevahiroğlu also criticised the continuous bad news, stating that in good events or war news in the country, human stories are not made with the concern of rating.

Cevahiroğlu praised the drone shooting by Anadolu Agency's New Yok correspondent and said that a fluent news report was made with images without expressing an opinion.

Mustafa Kartoğlu, Editor-in-Chief of Akşam Newspaper, stated that digital media is gradually affecting journalists as well and said, "It is in the foundation of the business, 'bad news is good news.' Bad news always sells. If we can't find something bad enough to give a headline, let's give the news from the bad side this time. 'We are going into space is good news, there is nothing bad about it. Then let's make a news item saying 'We are going into space, but there is a pothole on our street'. Whether these are weighed against each other or not," he said.

Drawing attention to the fact that when one searches the internet to check misinformation, when the quotations do not come as expected, one is again exposed to misinformation, Kartoğlu said, "This is a problem we also face. Journalists and television presenters still make similar mistakes while making their presentations."

Referring to the interest in fictional news, Kartoğlu said, "Your correction of a lot of fictional news is not valued and watched as much as fictional news." Kartoğlu emphasised that whoever knows the truth of the fake news, that institution should react quickly, correct it and follow its prevalence.

The panel continued with the session on News Ethics in New Generation Media.