Upon a complaint about a news report regarding Dokuz Eylül University, the Press Advertisement Institution (BİK) fined birgun.net by cutting its right to an additional indicator for 7 days. The decision was announced on July 18, 2022 and it had been handed down as per the Press Ethics Principles no. 129.
The fine was imposed on the grounds of the following remarks in the news report “Dokuz Eylül is collapsing” dated July 30, 2021: “Dokuz Eylül University, a long-established university in Turkey, has been hitting the headlines in recent years due to the pressure on academics and students rather that its achievements in education and research. The surveys conducted by the University Research Laboratory (ÜniAr) document this change as well. Ranked among the highest quality universities in the Aegean Region and Turkey for years, the DEÜ has been the subject of news in the last 3 years with nothing to do with academic life. Administered by Prof. Nükhet Hotar, an AKP Vice Chair for 14 years and an MP for four terms, since 2018, the DEÜ has been collapsing” (July 18).