ABSTRACT
Mass media has become diversified and has started to have more influence on individuals’ lives along with the developments in communication technologies. In addition to traditional media, new mass media increasingly provides individuals with news and information. Terms such as press moral and press ethics have increased their importance in the new media system, where information is delivered to more and more masses at the same time. However, there is an increase in the number of ethical violations due to diversification of media and failure to operate self-regulatory mechanisms properly. The ethical violations caused by the traditional media and the digital media are specified to be an important issue that should be resolved in the communication age. This study aimed to reveal the ethical violations committed in the Turkish media. The decisions taken by the Press Council regarding self-regulatory activities between 2016-2020 were subjected to document analysis and content analysis, thus, the ability of media organizations to comply with press ethics and ethical rules were attempted to be tested. In the study, it was identified that the media organizations and journalist authors mostly violated the article 4 of the Press Code of Conduct specifying the following provision: “The statements that humiliate, insult or defame individuals and organizations beyond the limits of criticism cannot be used”. In addition, when the applications made to the Press Council were evaluated, it was concluded that it began to lose its effectiveness and the only civil self-regulatory mechanism operating in the field of media in Turkey weakened.