Reuters job listing criticises Erdogan, TRT World targets UK instability in mock imitation job advert

A job listing advert by the news agency Reuters has stirred controversy in Turkiye and amongst journalists due to its lack of objectivity, seeming to be directly critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government.

Advertising for the position of deputy bureau chief in Istanbul, the Reuters job listing stated that “Erdogan has transformed Turkey in his two decades in power, shifting it away from modern secular traditions and turning it into an assertive diplomatic and military presence in regions stretching from the South Caucasus to North Africa.”

It said that it is seeking “someone with strong writing and reporting skills who can deliver deep-dive enterprise stories at the same time as supporting our high-performing team covering a critical juncture in Erdogan’s rule – with runaway inflation and a battered lira combining to threaten his bid for re-election in the months ahead.”

The targeting of Erdogan and his government’s policies drew condemnation today from Turkiye’s communications director Fahrettin Altun, who stressed that “Reuters seems to shift away from the facts and instead employ a biased perspective about what has happened to ‘modern secular traditions’ in Türkiye during President Erdogan’s rule. These statements would only make sense on a propaganda leaflet.”

Such behaviour, he said, is “not journalism,” and the agency “should ask their journalists on the ground about the facts before deciding what has happened and using it as guideline for news.”

READ: Turkiye: Erdogan discusses bilateral relations with British king

In response to the controversial and seemingly condescending job advert, TRT World – the Turkish English-language broadcaster – published a listing of its own to recruit a London-based correspondent, using almost the same language and tone as Reuters.’

Drawing attention to the UK’s own political instability and economic issues, the listing highlighted the “Failure of consecutive [British] governments to respond to challenges like COVID-19, Brexit and global economic crises left Britain in political turmoil. Short lived governments put the UK’s future in uncertainty, shifting it away from Europe.”

Turkish public broadcaster TRT World responds to Reuters job ad for Turkey Deputy Bureau Chief that criticised Erdogan and Turkey in kind by releasing a similar ad for UK

Trolling pic.twitter.com/D2iemkGqlI

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) December 24, 2022

Potential candidates and recruits to the job, TRT World wrote, must also “provide support to our high-performing team as they embark on the coverage of major issues such as the Scottish Government’s pursuit of independence and the threat it poses to the unity of the UK, runaway inflation and a battered pound combining to further endanger Britain’s unstable political situation.”

It also expressed critical views of the United Kingdom’s existing and continuing monarchy in the 21st century, saying that the death of Queen Elizabeth II earlier this year had “reignited” the debate around the future of British royal family.