DINK FOUNDATION HIGHLIGHTS RACISM, DISCRIMINATION IN MEDIA
13:25 23.08.13
Religious, ethnic minorities, women and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender (LGBT) groups are frequently targeted by the Turkish
media as objects of hate speech, discrimination and even racism,
Today's Zaman says, citing a report by the Hrant Dink Foundation.
The report, titled "Hate Speech in the Media" released on Thursday,
includes statistics and analyses on the general media discourse
regarding minorities and other disadvantaged groups. Compiled on
data gathered by monitoring the press in the first four months of
this year, one segment of the report focuses exclusively on media
reports regarding a visit by members of the pro-Kurdish People's
Democratic Congress (HDK) group to the Black Sea. The HDK group,
which includes members of parliament from the Peace and Democracy Party
(BDP), visited the Black Sea region as part of the ongoing negotiation
process between the government and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) to show their support for peace.
The foundation found an increase in the number of reports targeting
minorities and disadvantaged groups in the January-March period,
in comparison with the findings of previous studies by the foundation.
However, the number of groups that are targeted by stories that can
be classified as using hate speech or discriminatory language --
and sometimes-outright insults -- has decreased in comparison with
the same period of 2012.
Hate speech, the report said, has the highest occurrence rate in the
national media and columnists are the most frequent culprits. The
most frequently targeted groups are Armenians, Jews and Christians,
in that order and intensity. Turkey's Greek and Kurdish communities
were the two other groups that were discriminated against, although
as far as figures go, the amount of stories against these two groups
is much lower than the other three.
In this period, there was an increase in the number of stories deemed
to carry anti-hate speech against Kurds, particularly those stories on
the HDK/BDP group's visit to the Black Sea region, the anniversary of
the Khojali massacre of 1992 [in which the Armenian army killed more
than 613 Azerbaijani civilians], the death of three women affiliated
with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Paris in February,
and the French military campaign in Mali.
The report also detected a large number of stories that include
hate speech targeting women and LGBT individuals. Most examples in
this category were based on giving detailed physical descriptions
of the women who are the subject of the news story and most of
these stories concerned sex workers. Most stories about transgender
individuals associated these persons with crime and the uses of the
word "transvestite" was meant to sound offensive, the report said.
Armenian News - Tert.am
From: Baghdasarian
13:25 23.08.13
Religious, ethnic minorities, women and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender (LGBT) groups are frequently targeted by the Turkish
media as objects of hate speech, discrimination and even racism,
Today's Zaman says, citing a report by the Hrant Dink Foundation.
The report, titled "Hate Speech in the Media" released on Thursday,
includes statistics and analyses on the general media discourse
regarding minorities and other disadvantaged groups. Compiled on
data gathered by monitoring the press in the first four months of
this year, one segment of the report focuses exclusively on media
reports regarding a visit by members of the pro-Kurdish People's
Democratic Congress (HDK) group to the Black Sea. The HDK group,
which includes members of parliament from the Peace and Democracy Party
(BDP), visited the Black Sea region as part of the ongoing negotiation
process between the government and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) to show their support for peace.
The foundation found an increase in the number of reports targeting
minorities and disadvantaged groups in the January-March period,
in comparison with the findings of previous studies by the foundation.
However, the number of groups that are targeted by stories that can
be classified as using hate speech or discriminatory language --
and sometimes-outright insults -- has decreased in comparison with
the same period of 2012.
Hate speech, the report said, has the highest occurrence rate in the
national media and columnists are the most frequent culprits. The
most frequently targeted groups are Armenians, Jews and Christians,
in that order and intensity. Turkey's Greek and Kurdish communities
were the two other groups that were discriminated against, although
as far as figures go, the amount of stories against these two groups
is much lower than the other three.
In this period, there was an increase in the number of stories deemed
to carry anti-hate speech against Kurds, particularly those stories on
the HDK/BDP group's visit to the Black Sea region, the anniversary of
the Khojali massacre of 1992 [in which the Armenian army killed more
than 613 Azerbaijani civilians], the death of three women affiliated
with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Paris in February,
and the French military campaign in Mali.
The report also detected a large number of stories that include
hate speech targeting women and LGBT individuals. Most examples in
this category were based on giving detailed physical descriptions
of the women who are the subject of the news story and most of
these stories concerned sex workers. Most stories about transgender
individuals associated these persons with crime and the uses of the
word "transvestite" was meant to sound offensive, the report said.
Armenian News - Tert.am
From: Baghdasarian