Turkey’s main state-run TV station devoted 67 hours of airtime to President Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party last month in the run-up to elections, according to two opposition members of television watchdog RTUK, Reuters reports.
Erdogan's election rivals struggle to be heard in Turkey's media
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 21, ARTSAKHPRESS: His main presidential rival, Muharrem Ince, had less than seven.
“They make pro-government broadcasting with the taxes we pay,” Umit Ozdag, deputy chairman of the opposition Iyi party, which got just 12 minutes airtime, said at a recent protest at TRT offices.
Critics say Erdogan’s near-monopoly on the media may be the biggest obstacle to the free and fair conduct of the June 24 elections, which are being held under emergency law after a failed military coup two years ago.
Free speech advocacy group Reporters Without Borders in April ranked Turkey 157 out of 180 countries in its annual report on global press freedom, and estimates about 90 percent of Turkey’s newspaper coverage is pro-government.
