This is something people often miss when saying that “x is a free democracy, the people chose them!”. Fairness and freedom aren’t the same thing. For a democracy to truly be free and fair, the media must also be free. However free the election might be, if the ruling party controls the media it’s not fair. The opposition does not get represented correctly, and the ruling party is free to say whatever they want. This is why Turkey isn’t considered a full democracy and other similar cases. People are easily misled and the fact that a country has elections does not prove that it is truly a democracy.