On 23 March 2018, Fox TV anchorman Tucker Carlson voiced his criticisms against CNN Worldwide’s chairman Jeff Zucker as a reply to his remarks accusing Fox TV as “a pure propaganda machine.”

 

Carlson said that Zucker had no right to accuse Fox TV of being government propaganda because “CNN Turk, CNN’s cable station in Turkey, was sold to an arm of the regime there.” The Fox TV anchorman continued his speech by saying “in Turkey, CNN is literally state-run TV.”

 

Fifty per cent of CNN Turk’s shares are owned by CNN’s parent company Turner Broadcasting System through its Europe subsidiary while the other fifty per cent are owned by Dogan Yayin Holding. Dogan Yayin Holding is a Turkish media conglomerate, part of the Dogan Holding.

 

On 22 March 2018, it was announced that Dogan Holding had begun talks to sell Dogan Yayin Holding to Demiroren Holding, another private business entity owned by the Turkish Demiroren family. So, if the deal is finalized, half of CNN Turk’s shares will automatically pass to Demiroren Holding.

 

Demiroren Holding is also experienced in the Turkish media sector, owning one of the oldest and most famous Turkish newspapers Vatan and Milliyet. 

 

Some international media outlets claim that the Demiroren family has good relations with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and therefore media support for the Turkish government may increase with this deal.

 

However, unlike Fox TV anchorman Tucker Carlson alleged, CNN Turk is not going to become “a state-run TV.” Instead, half of its shares will be owned by an independent private business family while the Turner Broadcasting System company will keep owning the other half.