It's disinformation' Turkish state TV avoids coverage of street protests

As the sound of clanging pots and pans rang out through the streets of opposition strongholds in Istanbul to mark another mass protest, a different reality was being broadcast to viewers of Turkish pro-government media.

- Ruth Michaelson

Public television showed the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking to a gilded conference room after an iftar dinner. He boasted of his administration's achievements, of hiring new teachers and attracting young people to an aerospace and technology conference.

The cable channel NTV carried news of the efforts of the finance minister, Mehmet Şimşek, to stabilise the economy. Neither channel broadcast footage from the protests, which were sparked by the arrest of the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Neither did they interview protesters. NTV did however run a headline saying hundreds of people had been arrested, mirroring statements made by the interior minister.

Substantive coverage of the protests has instead been the preserve of a small group of newspapers and cable channels that exist outside the well-funded and slick pro-government broadcasting networks.

The opposition-aligned newspaper Cumhuriyet has carried news of the conditions inside a maximum-security facility where İmamoğlu has been held, and reported on speeches by another opposition leader to rapturous crowds of thousands.

"This is the negative outcome of what Erdoğan has built for two decades, which is a highly polarised, toxic media environment," said Erol Önderoğlu of Reporters Without Borders, pointing to the spread of cable channels and media companies with longstanding financial ties to the government.