The network has received criticism for failing to meet accepted journalism ethics and standards for independence and objectivity, with some commentators especially in the West calling it state media[2][3] or a propaganda arm of the Erdoğan administration.

"[8] Apart from some Russian and Chinese networks, other state-funded media including the Qatari-backed Al Jazeera, British-backed BBC News, French-backed France 24 and German-backed Deutsche Welle had not been determined to be foreign-government agents.

[16] In a 2019 op-ed in The Washington Post, MEMRI's executive director Steven Stalinsky described TRT World as "a propaganda arm of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime", similar to the Russian RT network.

"[citation needed] The managing editor at the time said that he "never received a phone call from Ankara trying to frame the broadcast or give them talking points.

"[20] More recently as of March 2020 with the Evros border crisis, TRT World and other Turkish media have in a way, accelerated on producing fake news as alleged by the Greek government, as was also mentioned by Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a CNN interview twice,[21] stating that the reports all come from Turkish media and other unknown sources aiming to discredit the Hellenic Coast Guard and Hellenic Armed Forces efforts with propaganda videos.