Turkey: CFWIJ Urges Artı TV And Artı Gerçek Management To Protect Their Journalists' Rights
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Date: March 24, 2021Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
After the protocol signed with the union, Disk Basın-İş, nine journalists, six of whom are women, of Artı TV and Artı Gerçek, were forced to resign for "not observing the hierarchy" and other excuses. The journalists were also expelled and imposed unpaid leave. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ), condemns the unfair actions against its employees by the media outlets which support the opposition. We call the news organizations to immediately end these practices and protect the rights of their employees.
Germany-based Artı TV and Artı Gerçek news outlets announced that they will withdraw the protocol on workplace working conditions that they signed with Disk Basın-İş on March 4, 2021. Approximately 50 journalists, 16 of whom are women are at risk of unemployment. Stating that only two weeks after the signed protocol, the union announced that the employees of the news outlets were forced to resign for some reasons during the protocol process.
Since the protocol process started with Artı TV and Artı Gerçek, on workplace working conditions, nine people, six of whom are women, have been taken on administrative leave or imposed unpaid leave. Several journalists were forced to resign. Two female journalists resigned. The union representative on the TV, Cenk Koçak, was dismissed on the grounds of "not observing the hierarchy". Also, six women journalists who were subjected to rights violations in the process are as follows; Melike Ceyhan and Sultan Eylem Keleş went on administrative leave, and Seda Öz was imposed unpaid leave. Esma Yılmaz and Sultan Çalışkan were forced to resign and left their jobs. Yadigar Anlı, on the other hand, was taken on administrative leave first and then quit her job voluntarily.
Speaking to the CFWIJ, Artı TV Emek ve Hayat program producer and journalist Dilek Dindar said that with the union process, journalists faced severe workplace bullying by the management. Stating that she was following the developing process with surprise, Dilek said that after the pandemic, some managers applied code 29 dismissal and short-time allowance to the employees. Describing the situation as ‘very painful’, Dilek followed, "We have come to experience the same thing where we have already explained what kind of unlawfulness is in a place where the unpaid leave issue is based on two million 300 thousand people".
The journalist also criticized Artı TV Editor-in-Chief Celal Başlangıç statement about the incident saying "We are trying to understand the situation,”. "It is very disappointing. I hope this isn’t an explanation like a subcontractor issue. Because such an understanding has never been on Artı TV. I have not witnessed it for three years. For years, this place has fought against this subcontractor understanding of the news and the programs it made. I hope we do not fall to such a point," she said. Dilek added that the process should not continue in this way.
Another Artı TV employee, reporter Elif Çetiner, who spoke to CFWIJ, said she started working as a social media editor at TV two years ago. The journalist said that she worked with all her might to keep the television broadcast live from being a voice operator to the director during the pandemic. She also added that although she has been working at Artı TV for two years, there was no increase in her salary. Stating that the situation is the same with people who have been working since the TV was opened, Elif said the process started with a salary increase demand. After the employees’ demand, the heavy mobbing process started and their requests were rejected. Elif underlined that a journalist who refused the request which could not be done was taken on leave first and then quit the job. Emphasizing that other employees who reacted to the demands were also taken on leave. Elif added that bullying continued. “This mobbing continues to increase every day. We have now decided to speak up. This time we decided to let it out from the room,” she said.
Artı TV Program Editor Seda Öz, who is currently on unpaid leave, emphasized that everyone in the organisation does every job as much as they can. Adding that recently employees have been asked for more tasks outside of their field, Seda said, colleagues who opposed the demands were dismissed. Seda added, “We tried to be moderate in this process. There is a protocol process that works with the union, we said let's not harm this process,``''Let's get the union into the TV, at least the friends who will work next to us, friends who do not want to lose their jobs can be comfortable or not defeat their rights. In this process, we did not spread it to social media as much as we could, and we did not announce it anywhere," she said. Adding her working situation was a heavy one, she said, “In a workplace where we work 24/7, we are fired for not obeying orders. That's all."
Disk Press-İş emphasized in a statement made today that approximately 50 people will be unemployed with the decision of the media organization.
In the statement, "The protocol was signed on March 4. Before and after the protocol, seven people were either forced to resign or were given "unpaid / paid leave" in the pandemic language. Due to ambiguous reasons such as "not following the hierarchy" or "your approach is problematic", people were expelled. Now, more than 50 employees will be unemployed with "contract termination". It's easy to say, more than 50 lives will be turned upside down with the 'DECISION' of the Artı TV management! The justification will be 'downsizing', 'lack of money, 'pandemic' etc. Can they show us one good reason to believe this? We call on the surplus management to end this anti-labour, anti-union attitude."
The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the rights violations by Artı TV and Artı Gerçek against our colleagues. Workplace bullying and layoffs of an outlet that attempt to bring labour exploitation to the agenda at every opportunity, in favour of social opposition, is unacceptable. We call on the executive mechanisms of the media organizations to step back from the decision on the protocol and protect the rights of their employees.
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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org
The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.
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