Daily Source Bias Check: Sabah

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Right Bias sources.

• Overall, we rate, Sabah Right Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that frequently favor the right-leaning government. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to poor sourcing and the promotion of pro-government propaganda.

Detailed Report

Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: Turkey
World Press Freedom Rank: Turkey 154/180

History

Founded in 1985, by Dinç Bilgin, Sabah is a Turkish daily newspaper based in Istanbul, Turkey. Sabah focuses on news, politics, sports, business, and entertainment. Sabah publishes an English-language edition known as Daily Sabah.

In 2000, Dinç Bilgin sold Sabah to MTM Group (Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Murat Vargı, Turgay Ciner). In 2007, Turkey’s Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) seized Sabah and the ATV group due to bankruptcy. In 2008, the group was renamed Turkuaz Medya and Çalık Group when acquired by Turkuvaz Media Group. President Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak is the former chief executive of Calik Holding, and his brother Serhat Albayrak is the general manager of the Turkuvaz Media Group. Çalık Holding was sold to Kalyon Group in 2013. Kalyoncu Group is the current publisher of Sabah and also the owner of Turkuvaz Medya. 

Read our profile on Turkey’s government influence on media.

Funded by / Ownership

Currently, Sabah is owned by pro-Erdogan  Turkuvaz Media Group which is owned by Kalyon Group. Sabah’s revenue is derived through subscriptions and advertising. 

Analysis / Bias

In 2019 Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey 154th in their Press Freedom Index, due to “The witch-hunt waged by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government”. The current president and former prime minister of Turkey is Recep Tayyip Erdogan who describes himself as a conservative democrat. 

The media in Turkey is currently separated into two groups. Pro-government media is called the “pool media” and the other is called the opposition media. Sabah is considered to be in the pool media after it was sold to Kalyon Group which has a close relation to the AKP party and President Erdogan.  

In review, Sabah publishes picture heavy articles with strong emotionally loaded language such as this “Türkiye’nin maskeleri için sıraya girdiler. Sabah rarely uses hyperlinks, and when they do it is circular in nature. When covering national news Sabah publishes articles with a pro-government tone “Erdoğan İslam dünyasının lideri” and tabloid style listicles “Dünyanın en güzel 100 kadını! Listede 5 Türk var”.

When covering world news, pertaining to the USA, they cover the Trump administration with a positive tone such as “Trump: “Çin, yeni tip koronavirüsü kasten ortaya çıkarmadı””. In general, Sabah is a tabloid-like paper that promotes pro-government propaganda.

Failed Fact Checks

• None found

Overall, we rate, Sabah Right Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that frequently favor the right-leaning government. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to poor sourcing and the promotion of pro-government propaganda.  (12/4/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 5/7/2020)

Source: https://www.sabah.com.tr/