Stating that the law proposal regarding the Press Law, which continues to be discussed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and 15 of its articles have been accepted, has positive and negative aspects, Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan said that the parliament could create a more democratic media law by taking into account the criticisms and suggestions made.
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan, Head of the Journalism Department at Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Communication, made evaluations regarding the “Law Proposal on Amendments to the Press Law and Some Other Laws,” which continues to be debated in the TBMM.
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan stated that the law proposal, 15 articles of which were accepted in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as of last night, has positive and negative aspects, and that the parliament could create a more democratic media law by taking into account the criticisms and suggestions made.
“Bringing internet journalism into a legal framework is positive”
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan said the following regarding the articles that bring internet journalism into a legal framework: “The first 18 articles of this law proposal foresee amendments to the Press Law numbered 5187 and bring internet media within the scope of the press law. I welcome this positively. Internet journalism in Turkey began in 1995. In the 27 years since 1995, internet media has developed, even almost replacing traditional media. Despite this, it was still not defined, its framework was not drawn. Journalists working in internet media were not considered journalists and could not benefit from some rights held by journalists. Journalists working in internet media could not obtain press cards. Some efforts had been made in the past to solve this problem, and even an internet media bill was prepared in 2012, but no progress was made. With this proposal, journalists working in internet media will also be legally recognized as journalists. This is good.” he stated.
“Journalist professional organizations should be dominant in the Press Cards Commission”
Stating that wide powers were granted to the Presidency's Directorate of Communications in the structure of the Press Cards Commission, which is envisioned for the distribution of press cards, İrvan said: “During the discussions in the Parliamentary Commissions, the number of members of the Press Cards Commission was increased to 19, but 11 of these members are determined by the Directorate of Communications. However, journalist professional organizations should be dominant in this commission, and the Directorate of Communications should undertake the organizational work. The Directorate of Communications should not decide who can receive a press card. In democratic countries, press cards are issued by press professional organizations. However, in Turkey, there is no professional organization with the budget and infrastructure to shoulder this burden. I think there is no harm in the printing and distribution of press cards being undertaken by the Directorate of Communications. Provided that journalist professional organizations can decide who can receive cards and who cannot,” he said.
“Certain obligations are being imposed on internet news sites”
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan stated that article 3 of the law proposal aims to register internet news sites, and that it is positive for news sites to provide their imprint information, and also stated that it is an appropriate decision for the date when news published on these sites was first published, and update dates if an update has been made, to be displayed on the news item itself.
“There are news sites whose owners are unknown and who have no contact information. It is not right to object to these being subject to certain rules,” said Prof. Dr. İrvan, adding that he has not encountered such an objection in the discussions regarding the law proposal.
“Problems may arise in the implementation of the right of reply and correction”
Stating that Article 7 of the law proposal defines the procedure for reply and correction to be applied on internet news sites, but that some problems may arise in practice, Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan said the following:
“When the law proposal is accepted and put into practice, the homepages of some news sites may be filled with reply and correction texts. Why? Because the addendum to Article 14 of Law No. 5187 states the following: ‘On internet news sites, the correction and reply letter of the aggrieved person; the responsible manager is obliged to publish it without any correction or addition, within at most one day from the date of receipt of the letter, on the pages and columns where the relevant publication is located, by providing a URL link, with the same font size and in the same manner.’ The positive aspect of the regulation is that the reply and correction texts will remain on the homepage for only 24 hours. Otherwise, the homepages of some news sites could have been full of reply and correction texts.”
“5 articles of the proposal foresee amendments to the Press Advertisement Institution Law”
Stating that Articles 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of the law proposal foresee amendments to the Press Advertisement Institution Law, Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan said that with these amendments, news sites will also be able to receive official advertisements.
“While I welcome this positively, I also want to point out some problems,” Prof. Dr. İrvan stated:
“The problem is this: The official advertisement pie in Turkey is fixed. According to the statement made by Cavit Erkılınç, General Manager of the Press Advertisement Institution, at a meeting held in Istanbul on September 29, 2022, currently 953 newspapers can receive official advertisements. Now news sites will also be added to this number. According to a research report prepared by Emre Kızılkaya and his team in 2021 and published in Journo, there are more than 6,500 news sites in Turkey. If the official advertisement pie remains the same, the share allocated to each news medium will naturally decrease. I predict that this situation will work against printed newspapers and lead to the closure of many local newspapers.”
“Article 29 should be removed from the law proposal”
Stating that Article 29 is the most problematic article of the law proposal, Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan said the following:
“This article defines a new crime as the dissemination of misleading information. The full text of the article is as follows: 'Anyone who openly disseminates false information related to the country's internal and external security, public order, and general health, with the sole intent of creating anxiety, fear, or panic among the public, in a manner suitable for disturbing public peace, shall be punished with imprisonment from one to three years.' Although the crime seems to be tied to objective criteria, I believe it will lead to serious problems in practice, that the reactions against this article should be taken into account, and that it would be more appropriate to withdraw the article.”