EHA Medya is a news portal that was established in 2018 to produce and disseminate news in Turkish, English, German and Arabic.
Media assets
News portal: EHA Medya
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Private (CaPr)
Ownership and governance
EHA Medya is a media outlet operated by Refleks Medya Iletisim, a company established in 2018. The outlet was founded with the involvement of Nuh Yılmaz, a former journalist and academic who later became a secret agent for the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT.
EHA Medya benefited greatly from the support of Turkuvaz Media Group, a major media conglomerate owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Turkish government. However, to preserve the appearance of EHA Medya as an independent news entity, it was not included in Turkuvaz Media Group’s portfolio.
Source of funding and budget
EHA Medya does not publicly disclose its funding sources. However, according to journalists and experts consulted for this report in March 2023 and May 2024, it is believed that the media outlet receives financial support from both pro-government media owned by oligarchs with close ties to the Turkish government, and directly from the government itself.
Editorial independence
Journalists and media reports suggest that EHA Medya was established with the intent of endorsing the narrative of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. The media outlet is allegedly openly biased towards President Erdogan and his policies, with its content frequently shared by individuals close to the president.
There is no existing statute that ensures the outlet’s editorial independence. No independent assessment or oversight mechanism has been identified during the latest research phase for this report that could confirm the outlet’s editorial independence.
August 2024