The Law treats this not as a professional courtesy but as an obligation. The closing sentence of Article 8/1(ı) reads: “…it is mandatory to state the archive or reconstruction character of footage and the source of news taken from agencies or from another media source.”
One sub-paragraph, four duties
Read in full, Article 8/1(ı) sets out four separate rules of journalism at once.
| # | Duty | Statutory wording |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Impartiality, factuality and accuracy | “shall take as its basis the principles of impartiality, factuality and accuracy and shall not obstruct the free formation of opinion in society” |
| 2 | Duty to investigate | “news capable of investigation within the framework of press professional principles may not be published without investigation or without being sure of its accuracy” |
| 3 | No exaggerated presentation | “in the presentation of news, no place may be given to exaggerated sound and image, or to effects and music other than natural sound” |
| 4 | Stating character and source | “it is mandatory to state the archive or reconstruction character of footage and the source of news taken from agencies or from another media source” |
When “archive” must be shown
The rule is simple: any footage that does not belong to the moment of the news is archive material. The Law sets no time threshold — yesterday’s footage is archive, and so is footage from ten years ago.
- Footage of the event itself shot on a different date
- Footage of the same person or institution from another event
- Generic footage used to represent the subject — a building, a street, a crowd
- Segments taken from an earlier bulletin
“Reconstruction” is separate and more critical
Reconstruction is the staged re-creation of an event that was never filmed. The Law names it in the same sentence as archive footage and attaches the same duty. Failing to label reconstruction is more misleading than failing to label archive material: the viewer takes a staged scene for real footage.
How the label should be made
The Law prescribes no form; the test is that the viewer understands. The minimum accepted in practice is:
- An indication on the footage, visible for as long as the footage is on screen
- Legible size and contrast; a two-second flash is not enough
- The word “ARCHIVE” or “ARCHIVE FOOTAGE”; for staged material, “RECONSTRUCTION”
- The date of the footage where possible
- The source name separately where the footage came from elsewhere
Crediting the source is a separate duty
The final part of the sub-paragraph imposes a second obligation: the source of news taken from agencies or from another media source must be stated. That is independent of the archive label. Where footage is both archive material and taken from another source, both pieces of information are given.
Sanctions
Article 8/1(ı) is not among the grave sub-paragraphs listed in Article 32/1; a breach falls under Article 32/2: an administrative fine of one to three per cent of gross commercial communication revenue, with a floor of TRY 1,000 for radio and TRY 10,000 for television and on-demand services. Under the second track of Article 32/5, more than twenty breaches within one year start the broadcast suspension ladder.
Copyright runs separately
Crediting a source does not confer a right to use. Using another undertaking’s footage is assessed separately under Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works. Article 16 of Law No. 6112 provides that television broadcasters holding exclusive rights to events of major importance for the public must grant other broadcasters a short reporting right against payment, and does so expressly within the framework of Law No. 5846.
Source attribution is covered in the agency credit guide and the effects prohibition in the music and effects guide.