They lied to us

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"In his travel book titled Moskova-Roma, which was published in 1932, the same year as Zeytindağı, and included political and social analyses, Falih Rıfkı Bey wrote the following lines about the Republic period:

'During the Great War, a soldier said "What is this that we are suffering through? We are given injections everyday" when having his typhus vaccine.

A hodja whispered into my ear: Neither a disease nor anything of that sort... They are injecting German blood into us.'"
This excerpt from the book titled Memlekette Tuhaf Zamanlar by the journalist Yenal Bilgici may have sounded familiar to you too. Today we are experiencing the likes of what Falih Rıfkı wrote in the 1930s. While the whole world was trying to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic only two years ago, we heard ever so many times: "These are not vaccines, they are putting chips into us, they are doing this to neuter the Turkish population, they are modifying our genetic codes, they are playing with our DNAs, etc. etc." You can add thousands of similar statements to this.

The speed of lies

What they say is exactly the same as what Falih Rıfkı wrote, the difference lies in the "spreading" speed. At the time of Falih Rıfkı, "lies" spread through the "grapevine" or through the news of certain newspapers whereas now we have to deal with the speed of the internet. While such lies were spreading in social media at the speed of light, the responsibility of journalists was to write the truth after talking to the experts about these claims. However, not only were there a few journalists keen to do this, but also there were even fewer readers of the news investigating these claims. Lies were getting attention, truths were things to be occasionally consulted.

Propaganda and disinformation

Let's continue in the book of Yenal Bilgici.

"As mentioned by two political scientists Serana Giusti and Elisa Piras from Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, until recently, the term that is most commonly used in referring to the manipulation of truth is disinformation; previously, it was propaganda. When comparing these two concepts, Giusti and Piras underline a pretty interesting historical weight, too. Disinformation comes 'from the Russian word dezinformatsiya, deriving from the title of a KGB black propaganda department responsible for producing false information with the intention of deceiving public opinion. Disinformation is a relatively recent practice in comparison to 'propaganda', which originated in the 1600s and generally connotes the selective use of information aimed at producing some desired political effects. Propaganda seeks to manipulate or influence the opinion of groups to support a particular cause or belief; it often promotes the benefits and virtues of one idea or group, while simultaneously distorting the truth or suppressing the counter-argument (as it happened, for instance, in Nazi Germany).'"

Own truths or lie

We continue:

"A main difference... While old-style 'propaganda' aims to make people believe in a viewpoint in order to make this viewpoint prevail, disinformation, 'child' of the 20th century, achieves the same objective by deceiving people. In the former, the propaganda maker underlines their own 'truths' regardless of the content; the latter involves directly telling 'lies'."

That is, plain "lies". And together with the rest of the world, we live in a bombardment of disinformation in Turkey. Both in social media and in traditional media.

Lies during the Gezi Park protests

Remember the fake news during the Gezi Park protests. Then again these were published by journalists too. Everything about the woman assaulted in Kabataş, the beers drank at the mosque, the substance abuse of those staying in the tents at the Gezi Park, was written. Even a pattern of "exact information" originated in that period to distinguish between true news and fake news. That is, not fake news, true news. As if it was normal for news to be fake!

Before moving on to the examples of disinformation encountered by journalists or produced by journalists themselves, it is a good idea to look at "why these fake news were bought" or why these lies or fake news were told.

Not truths, but emotions

Oxford dictionary chose the word "post-truth" as "the word of the year" in 2016, and defined it as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."
That is, truths, proofs, data, documents do not matter anymore. In this century, "emotions" count. Whoever appeals to emotions wins. And lying is not considered as "shameful" as it was before. The person who tells a lie does not even feel "embarrassed" when the lie is out.

But not to forget, the journalist's duty is never to appeal to emotion. The high-speed flow of news eliminates the possibility for people to check. They read and go. That's why, the real responsible ones are the news professionals, the journalists. Maybe a personal experience can tell a lot.

"There are no journalists in jail"?

At a meeting in March 2017, President Erdoğan referred to a dialogue he had with Angela Merkel, German Chancellor at the time, on the "release of imprisoned journalists" and said "We are telling them to give us the list of the journalists in jail. The list includes all from murderer to child molester." Newspapers and websites, especially the pro-government ones, published the President's words with headings like "There are journalists that are child molesters", "They are not journalists, they are terrorists!"

Working at Cumhuriyet at the time, we were busy doing the only thing we knew how to in the face of these lies. 11 employees of Cumhuriyet had been in jail for 144 days even though it was not in the accusal. The news was published with the heading "Once again he ignored the journalists with years of experience: There are no journalists in jail according to Erdoğan." Yet you never know whether we were able to reach a larger mass than the President.

Lies told in front of the cameras

Another example: On September 27, 2021, when Margaret Brennan from the American television channel CBS, asked Erdoğan about "a hundred thousand people being investigated for insulting the President," Erdoğan said "There are no such cases filed about me." But according to the data of the Ministry of Justice, 194 thousand 138 investigations and 44 thousand 675 public cases were filed and 48 thousand 819 people were tried during the presidency of Erdoğan. And again there was an overt lie. It was being told even in front of the cameras.

"Other countries charge for vaccines"

Let's continue: Again Erdoğan said "Currently, even the most developed countries of Europe charge for vaccines. 50 pounds, 100 euros. We did not charge our public for it, not even a dime" on July 2, 2021. Of course, this appeared in the headlines. Everyone read and said "wow!" But, at that time, not only European countries were not charging for vaccines, but also Greece was giving gift cards worth 150 euros to the young people who got vaccinated in order to encourage vaccination.

This is not all: Nowadays while the whole country is struggling with the economic crisis, Erdoğan easily says: "They say we went bankrupt; everyone has a car." Of course, pro-government newspapers, televisions, and websites publish this "nice and fake" news in big fonts with the exact same sentences. Truth is not even remotely close to this. According to the 2021 data of TurkStat, the number of land vehicles per person in Turkey is approximately 0.3.

State lies

On the other hand, the journalists seeking the truth have already ceased to believe the government agencies like TurkStat. While people are economically torn, TurkStat announces an inflation rate of 81% in order not to complicate things for the government. ENAG publishing the real rate as 181% and the journalists writing this are denounced as traitors.

Politicians may be telling "these lies" in order to consolidate their base, to protect their own interests and image, to shape the social relations, to achieve power, to influence others, to make a profit, to be appreciated, to manipulate others, to hide their failure and to make themselves look good, or to reinforce the loyalty of the staff, etc.

The real issue is this: Why are journalists so eager to spread these fake news without questioning them? Are they this blind to truths? Do they not have any ethical concerns? Have they not ever studied the rules of the profession? Have they not ever heard that the foundation of journalism is "truth"? Do they not know at all that the priority of journalism is "public good"? Did they forget that their job is to provide "true information"?

They do know, but they are not anymore journalists who care about ethical values, they are "fans". For sure, a journalist is "partial", but they are on the side of the "weak, oppressed, poor". The big mistake is to side with the "strong". That's why, it is not only the politicians who lie, but also the journalists. They make fake news clearly. The journalist of such a polarized society is also polarized.

You must have read its examples over and over. For instance, whenever there is a fire in the west of Turkey, the same cliché appears without any questioning: "The PKK sets the fires." Yet there is not any piece of evidence. You read a conspiracy theory in the news, more sadly the journalist puts their signature under it and gives it as a big and "behind the scenes" news. The news that is quickly spread also through the internet proceeds with the cursing of the Kurdish.

Kemal Korkut and Abdurrahman Gök

When it comes to the Kurdish, Turkish media is in a race of lies. Let's take a look at the shooting of Kemal Kurkut. The journalist Abdurrahman Gök went on trial merely because he took photos of Kemal Kurkut. When Kemal Kurkut was shot by the police on Newroz, the mayor of Diyarbakır first stated that Kurkut said "There is a bomb in my bag, I will kill you all," he attacked the officers with a knife and started running toward the field, and he was shot due to the possibility that he could be a 'suicide bomber'. But the photos taken by Abdurrahman Gök revealed everything. Let alone a bag, Kurkut did not even have a t-shirt on him. He was running shirtless with a bottle of water in his hand. How many people did the State kill thinking of them as "suicide bombers"? Of course, this question will never be answered. But 28 photos taken by a journalist was going to reveal that the person killed was a young man at Newroz celebrations, not a "terrorist". Abdurrahman Gök did "true journalism" against "fake news".

Thrown from a helicopter

In November 2020, newspapers announced that in Van, two villagers were pushed off a helicopter and both were hospitalized. Obviously, this too was going to be denied. The Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu's answer about the two villagers named Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban being thrown from a helicopter after being tortured by soldiers in the Çatak district of Van was "These are logic-defying lies." Televisions, newspapers, websites which did not make any news at all until that day, placed Soylu's statement to their headlines as "These are logic-defying lies." After a few days, journalists responded to this by publishing the medical reports. Journalists were arrested because they stood up against the "lie".

Lies of September 6-7

State continuity was essential. A lie similar to this one was recklessly told by Hikmet Sami Türk, the Minister of Justice at the time during the Operation Return to Life which cost 32 people their lives on December 19, 2000. Türk said "the prisoners clashed with the soldiers," "some of the deaths were caused by the clash between the prisoners," "Prisoners fired Kalashnikov rifles." Again the journalists of the time who "love their State" carried the statement of the Minister, who was later shown by reports to have lied, to the headlines.

Let's go a little further back: We should all be ashamed that the pogrom on September 6-7 started with a "fake news" story. The pogrom starting with the news story that "a bomb was planted at the house of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk" ended with the death of more than 10 people, injuries, rapes, pillages, assaults, and the migration of Rums living in Turkey. It still remains as a black mark in history.

Nationalism lies

We are used to the State lying, but understanding why journalists are so keen to be part of this lie, why they are so keen "to serve their State" and to be a "presentable journalist", let's hang on there. What is essential is to be "the public's journalist", not "the State's journalist".

We also keep forgetting that statements like "Nationalism is not bad, we love our country very much" legitimate "racism", not patriotism. Especially as far as "others" are concerned. For example, the leader of the Victory Party Ümit Özdağ can make a statement saying "we will send the Syrians back through legal ways" without thinking; some websites unaware that nationalism is not even remotely related to journalism publish this statement as "latest breaking news" in huge fonts. They are so keen to be a part of the lie that they do this saying "we". In fact, international contracts involving Turkey state that refugees cannot be sent back to countries where there is cruelty risk, war, crisis, maltreatment, and torture. The leader of the Victory Party gets the votes of those that think like him. Let alone this "being a fake news story", neither the journalist nor the politician cares that they undermined public life, living together. Let's take a look at another piece of "disinformation" about refugees, one that is continuously circulating and saying "The children of the Syrian become Turkish citizens, they receive a certain amount of aid." The reality is that Syrian babies, even those born in Turkey, are not given citizenship; in fact, most of them are "stateless" because they are not considered Syrian in addition to not being Turkish citizens. But this is not enough for nationalists.

If not Syrians, Afghans are targeted. "Disinformation" spreading from social media causes assaults by agitating people. Anti-refugeeism rises, racism rises. And again unfortunately the journalists who helped spread these fake news or spread them themselves are involved.

"Fake news" stories about Syrians are perhaps the news with the most clicks in the last 10 years. Syrians have priority in the hospitals, Syrians do not pay water, electricity, natural gas bills, Syrians receive salaries from the State, Syrians attending university have scholarships, Syrians can attend any university they want without taking any exam, Syrian shopkeepers do not pay taxes, etc. Is it really the case? No.

LGBTI+ and women

Having mentioned "others", "LGBTI+" individuals are certainly a group with a lot of disinformation, even the most disadvantaged group. Especially the journalists in Islamist press prepare series of news lasting for days about homosexuality not being congenital and being curable by bringing together some "experts". They do not stop there, they criminalize LGBTI+ individuals through fake news like "Gays terrorize!" I will not add more examples to this in order not to spread disinformation further, but even if the fact that what they write has nothing to do with the truth has been proven thousands of times, these "journalists" keep insisting on the "lie". This is certainly beyond "fake news" or disinformation, this is hate speech. But after having crossed the line once, the journalist involved with disinformation is not anymore intimidated by "hate speech" either. The cycle quickly moves forward. What matters is that the journalist knows the ethical borders of the profession and behaves accordingly.

Women too get their share of lies. What we will tell now is a series of "fake news" involving a "reporter", then a newspaper, and finally the President. On March 8, 2019, a reporter of Yeni Şafak Burak Doğan posted on Twitter that "Women participating in the rallies on March 8 protest the calls to prayer." The issue got out of proportion suddenly, bubbled in the media. On March 10, President Erdoğan, based the same claim, said in a rally attended by tens of thousands of people: "A group coming together supposedly for women's day in Taksim under the leadership of CHP and HDP disrespected the calls to prayer through whistles and slogans." The next day, Erdoğan's statement was (again) in the headlines of Islamist press. Women associations said "It should not be twisted by anyone, our revolt is against police obstacles, against those who want to prevent women's march, March 8," but this did not appear in the same headlines. More strangely, when contacted by BBC to get his opinion about the issue, the reporter Burak Doğan refused to speak. The "lie" that he spread made women targets.

Insisting on the truth

As we can see in these news, the responsible party in the propagation of fake news is not just the social media, but the journalists themselves are accountable too. Sometimes the journalists themselves make "fake news". Moreover, in this era of speed, it is possible for the smallest piece of disinformation to grow like a snowball, get out of hand, and harm an unpredictably large population. While no lie is innocent, lies told by journalists are even more dangerous since they turn into "lies that shape the society." Because this undermines living together. This obstructs the establishment of a just and equal society. What is the duty of a journalist if not to work for a better world?

A journalist has to insist on the trueness of the news. With its data, experts, proofs. Because the fact that the journalist is telling the truth will be revealed eventually, even if it takes a hundred years. It is useful to remember the American journalist-author Walter Lipmann: "There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil."

In Good Times and Bad: Living Together Article Series

1- Family: In good times and bad...

2- Is it possible to live together in the presence of impunity?

3- Politics of horror and the cinema

4- What can hatred be washed off with?

5- Creativity and music: In good times and bad

6- "We know that we are definitely unwanted people"

7- The ghosts of the past, the guards of today

(NÖ/SO/VK)