The Civic Media Lab invites you to a talk by Professor Yasemin İnceoğlu of Galatassary University: Media coverage of hate speech and discriminative discourse in Turkey
The synopsis of this seminar is to unveil the existence and the rise of hate speech in the absence of an independent, accountable, transparent media and figure out the solutions and recommendations to combat with it.
Mainstream media have gradually become a single voiced propaganda tool that portray a single pro-government perspective. Journalism apart from pro-government propaganda is punished by terminations, interrogations and imprisonment. European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) released the fifth monitoring report on Turkey. In the report, official authorities' hate speech is criticized and it is pointed out that the hate speech is not effectively punished.
Polarization between different segments of Turkish society is becoming more pronounced and intolerance more widespread. The mainstream media reproduce and pump hate, both openly and disguisedly based on the concepts such as racism, ethnical prejudice, xenophobia and anti-Semitism while creating its own agenda as the ideological apparatus of the state in Turkey. Media use negative, cynic statements, curses, insults, exaggeration and contempt as a tool to present those groups as dangerous to public safety and boogeymen spreading risk and threat. Media reinforce the prejudice towards these marginalized groups –“the others” and at the same time make them feel unprotected and defenseless. This hate shows itself in outbursts of social lynch and discrimination and it reinforces the polarization in the society.
While we are concentrating on different types of discourses such as hate speech, discriminatory discourse and dangerous speech, we will discuss how the media represent the ideology of power by quoting to Stuart Hall, Saussure, Van Dijk, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky. “Hate speech” is a complicated and controversial term that is difficult to understand. The question “What is hate speech?” brings with it questions such as “Where is the boundary between freedom of expression and hate speech?”, “Is hate speech only produced against persons or minority people/groups?”, “Does every discourse that involves negative expressions and sentiments constitute hate speech?”, “How can we explain the relationship between hate speech and hate crimes?” we will adress these questions by giving different examples of hate speech disseminated or produced/reproduced by the media. Throughout the seminar examples of hate speech towards political groups/ethnic origins, refugees, LGBTI groups, disabled ones etc. will be provided.