Hayat Gorsel

Hayat Görsel Yayıncılık A.Ş. is the Istanbul-based broadcaster of Kanal 7 and Radyo 7. These outlets belong to the wider Kanal 7 Medya Grubu network, which includes other television channels and digital publications operating through separate companies.

Media assets

Kanal 7 (television) and Radyo 7 (radio): Hayat Görsel Yayıncılık A.Ş., named on the Kanal 7 masthead.

Kanal 7 Avrupa (television): the masthead names Bumerang Tanıtım ve Teknik Hizmetleri A.Ş. as broadcaster and Bumerang Yapımcılık Yayıncılık A.Ş. as media service provider.

Ülke TV (television) and izle7 (video platform): Beyaz İletişim A.Ş.

Haber7 (news website) and Yasemin (lifestyle website): Nokta Elektronik Medya A.Ş.

Mepa Medya provides advertising and media-planning services within the wider network.

Ownership and governance

The Media Ownership Monitor’s (MOM) record, last updated in December 2021, lists Zekeriya Karaman, İsmail Karahan, Mustafa Çelik and Zahid Akman as shareholders with 25 per cent each. However, the shareholder minutes cited in its narrative concern Beyaz Holding in 2016. Current direct shareholdings in Hayat Görsel were not independently verified. MOM also reports that the company was renamed from Yeni Pasifik İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. in 2008.

Medyascope reported in 2019 that the same four individuals were involved in the management of Beyaz Holding, Hayat Görsel, Beyaz İletişim and Nokta Elektronik Medya. Zekeriya Karaman spoke as Kanal 7 Medya Grubu’s board chairman at its anniversary event in February 2025.

Current mastheads identify Mehmet Acet as Kanal 7’s editor-in-chief, Osman Ateşli as Haber7’s general manager and editor-in-chief, and Serhat Karasu as Radyo 7’s general manager and editor-in-chief. Yasemin’s masthead also names Ateşli as editor-in-chief.

The ownership network has documented political connections. Parliament elected Zahid Akman to RTÜK from the AKP’s nominees in 2005, and MOM says he chaired the regulator from 2005 to 2009. Mustafa Çelik’s daughter, Sena Nur Çelik Kanat, is an AKP MP for Istanbul, according to Haber7. Karaman’s son Mehmet Habip married Şehriban Ketenci, the sister of Burak Erdoğan’s wife, in 2007.

Source of funding and budget

No current consolidated budget or breakdown of public and commercial revenue was identified. In its 2021 transparency review, MOM reported, according to Bianet, that Hayat Görsel did not make its revenues publicly available and did not respond to requests for financial information.

Evidence of public advertising exists at outlet level. Journalist Kenan Şener’s analysis of 2020 media-monitoring data, published in 2021, ranked Ülke TV eighth among news channels by public-bank advertising airtime. The study drew on a monitoring company’s sample of 30 television channels.

The owners’ wider commercial network also has public-sector business links. Medyascope’s 2019 investigation reported that Beyaz Holding companies, including Lapis, Etkin and Kare, won contracts for Istanbul’s municipal adult-education programme, İSMEK.

Editorial independence

Independent research identifies the group’s political orientation. Sinem Aydınlı’s September 2020 report, published by SEENPM, the Peace Institute and Bianet, classifies the ownership group behind Kanal 7, Haber7, Radyo 7 and Ülke TV as pro-government, citing its Istanbul municipal tenders. Her December 2020 study examines a Haber7 article and its reader comments concerning the journalist Can Dündar as a case of hostility towards critical journalists.

At the group’s 30th-anniversary event on 28 February 2025, Erdoğan thanked it on behalf of himself, his family and his party, crediting its support during major political confrontations. This public statement provides evidence of the group’s longstanding alignment with the presidency.

There are also formal findings about individual reporting practices. On 8 February 2023, the Press Council issued a majority-vote warning to Haber7 editor-in-chief Osman Ateşli over a report that breached its principles on demeaning statements and the presumption of innocence.

Haber7’s published principles promise corrections, a right of reply, an approach free from prejudice and the presentation of different viewpoints. Kanal 7 names Zeyyat Eray as viewer representative, while Radyo 7 provides a listener-representative contact. No group-wide editorial statute or oversight body demonstrably independent of the owners was identified.

AI and digital policy

No dedicated AI policy was identified in the public editorial and corporate pages reviewed for this update. Haber7’s publication principles contain no AI-specific provisions.

Classification rationale

SMM retains CaPr on the basis of politically connected private ownership and management, a pro-government editorial orientation documented by independent research, and the group’s longstanding alignment with the presidency. Together, these support SMM’s assessment of political capture through private ownership.

October 2026