The short answer is yes, it is mandatory. Article 46/3 of Law No. 6112: “Private radio and television undertakings shall appoint one or more responsible editors, assessing the character and importance of the broadcasting services they will provide.”
Number: at least one, more where needed
The Law fixes no number and leaves the criterion to the undertaking: “assessing the character and importance of the broadcasting services they will provide”. One responsible editor may be enough for a single-channel local radio station, while a multi-channel undertaking with heavy live output is expected to appoint more.
The four conditions
Article 46/3 lists the qualifications the responsible editor or editors must have:
| Sub-para. | Condition | Note |
|---|---|---|
| a | Being a Turkish citizen | No exception |
| b | Responsible editors of undertakings operating at national and regional level being graduates of higher education | Required only for national and regional undertakings |
| c | Having their place of residence in Turkey | — |
| ç | Not being barred from public service or legally restricted | — |
The burden the responsible editor carries
The responsible editor is the person to whom the Law attaches liability directly. Article 46/1: “Liability arising from a broadcast belongs to the person directing the broadcast or making the programme together with the responsible editor. This provision does not remove the responsibilities of the broadcasting undertaking under this Law.”
Article 33 additionally directs two criminal sanctions at the responsible editor personally:
| Act | Penalty | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Failing to retain broadcast recordings for one year | Judicial fine of 1,000 – 5,000 days | Art. 33/3 |
| Failing to deliver a recording within the period and faithful to the original, despite a request by RTUK or the public prosecutor | Judicial fine of 1,000 – 5,000 days | Art. 33/3 |
| Recordings supplied not being the broadcast requested, or alteration, excision or deletion in them | Judicial fine of 5,000 – 10,000 days | Art. 33/4 |
When liability shifts away
Article 46/2 gives the responsible editor a defence: “However, where the persons authorised to manage and represent the company have decided on a broadcast without it passing through the examination of the responsible editor or against their consent, liability in that case passes to those persons who decided on the broadcast.”
Do not confuse this with the viewer representative
These are separate duties and their functions are opposed.
| Responsible editor | Viewer representative | |
|---|---|---|
| Basis | Art. 46/3 | Art. 22/1 |
| Function | Bearing liability arising from the broadcast | Evaluating viewer and listener complaints and putting them to the broadcasting board |
| Qualification | Turkish citizenship, education, residence, capacity | At least ten years’ professional experience |
| Public announcement | Not separately required by the Law | Announced to the public by appropriate means and notified to RTUK |
| Number | One or more | One |
One person holding both roles is inconsistent with the self-regulatory purpose of Article 22: the responsible editor cannot be the person who evaluates complaints about their own broadcast.
Newsroom staffing is a separate duty
Article 23/1 regulates something different: “The Supreme Council shall determine the minimum number of press-card-holding personnel to be employed in the news units of media service providers. Such personnel shall be subject to Law No. 5953 …”. The responsible editor duty and the newsroom staffing duty are independent of each other.
Sanctions
Failing to appoint a responsible editor, or appointing a person who does not meet the statutory conditions, is treated under Article 32/2 as a breach of “the principles, obligations or prohibitions laid down in the other articles of this Law”: an administrative fine of one to three per cent of gross commercial communication revenue, not less than TRY 1,000 for radio and TRY 10,000 for television and on-demand services.
The structure of liability is covered in the liability guide and newsroom requirements in the newsroom guide.