Anadolu editor-in-chief puts spotlight on fake news

By Yildiz Nevin Gundogmus

ANKARA (AA) – Anadolu Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Ozhan highlighted the dilemma journalism is facing globally in the shape of fake news.

The reader, listener and viewer have become also news producers -- a phenomenon which has led to some problems, he said at a panel on media ethics organized by Türkiye's Communications Directorate in the capital Ankara.

Fake news is posing a threat to journalism globally, he said, adding: “Of course, news has to reflect the truth and has its own discipline.”

He said Anadolu established the Fact-Checking Line in 2022, fighting fake news in an institutional way.

Anadolu board member Ismail Caglar underlined that journalists should be separated from content producers or people who report in some way due to their job, institution and connections.

Drawing attention to the importance of media ethics, Caglar stated that the main responsibility for its implementation falls on journalists.

"People can produce content, but if they do not have that code, that ethics, that morality, they are not journalists, they are content producers," he said.

Caglar said some people, without any training, publish news contrary to media ethics in extraordinary situations, in war zones.

"The picture we see today is that the profession has started to lose its prestige and to erode," he added.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan