Turk Medya Group is a media company that operates five print publications, three television channels and two radio stations.
Media assets
Publishing: Newspapers- Akşam Gazetesi, Güneş Gazetesi, Star; Magazines- Alem, Platin
Television: 24TV, 360, TV4
Radio: Alem FM, Lig Radyo
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Private (CaPr)
Ownership and governance
Turk Medya emerged as a result of the acquisition in 2017 by the businessman Zeki Yeşildağ of the company Es Yayıncılık, which owned three television channels, three newspapers and two radio stations, from the entrepreneur Ethem Sancak. Zeki Yeşildağ co-owns Turk Medya along with Hasan Yeşildağ, his brother, who is known as a very close supporter and ally of Erdoğan.
Source of funding and budget
There are no public records detailing the revenues of the media outlets run by Turk Medya. Like all the media groups controlled by oligarchic structures close to the President, Turk Media also receives substantial amounts of funding from the government. Nevertheless, local journalists could not estimate what share the government funding represents in the total budget of the media outlets run by Turk Media, which funds itself to a large degree also through ad sales.
Editorial independence
The media outlets from Turk Medya have been closely following the political line of the ruling party AKP for a long time (even before they were bought by Zeki Yeşildağ in 2017). The previous owner, Ethem Sancak, was a wealthy businessman who was asked by Erdoğan to manage this group of media outlets. Sancak openly asked Erdoğan permission to sell the media business after he was appointed to the AKP’s Central Decision and Administration Board in 2017. Sancak was totally open about his fondness of Erdoğan, once referring to his feelings for the President as “passionate love.”
The media run by Turk Medya define themselves as one of the cornerstones of the “New Turkey,” a phrase often used by Erdoğan to refer to his vision of the future Turkey.
Zeki Yeşildağ is very close to Erdoğan. In the past, he was elected on the Istanbul City Council from Erdoğan’s party and has often been brought by Erdoğan on his official trips abroad.
There is no statute and no independent assessment/oversight mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of Turk Medya’s media outlets.
October 2023