ELİF ÇETİNER

 Istanbul- Women struggle against the ongoing exploitation of their labor in all spheres of life. If you are a women and journalist, you have to resist more. Women journalists keep struggling against both male-state violence and the difficulties of their profession.

In an interview with NuJINHA, Pınar Gayip, an editor at Etkin News Agency (ETHA), talked about the challenges experienced by women journalists while reporting new stories.

‘Women journalists experience serious problems’

Pointing out that women journalists are subjected to violence by their male colleagues, Pınar Gayip said:

“As women journalists, we experience serious problems. These problems are, of course, not like the problems that we experienced 10 or 15 years ago. Since we are shorter than them, they try to use us as tripods by placing their cameras on our heads or on our shoulders or they push us aside and tell us, ‘Stay aside, this is a man's job. We do journalism, not you.’ We always discuss.”

 ‘We used self-defense against violence’

Women journalists resist violence by their male colleagues, Pınar Gayip said, “We make great efforts to end violence by our male colleagues and sometimes we use self-defense to protect ourselves. Sometimes, we expose the violent actions of our male colleagues. Male journalists try to use us to run errands to be visible in front of the camera.”

‘We are subjected to police violence’

Women journalists are subjected to violence by not only by their male colleagues, but also by police, Pınar Gayip said and added, “We are also direct victims of police violence; we are subjected to harassment and threats by police officers while covering protests or news stories. When we cover news stories about sexual assault, harassment or rape against a woman, we are threatened by them saying, ‘What happened to her will happen to you too, you will experience the same thing if you report’. For years, we have been struggling against both male and police violence.”

 She was targeted for reporting on sexual abuse against a trainee lawyer

Pınar Gayip was once targeted for reporting on sexual abuse against a female trainee lawyer. “I interviewed this female trainee lawyer. She had evidence documented sexual abuse against her. It was not fake news. After my news article was published, I was threatened through fake accounts opened by the harasser. Then, I was accused of being a member of a (terrorist) organization by him. The man got a lighter prison sentence for sexual assault. However, he filed a criminal complaint against me because his son was seen very little in the photo that I used for the article. The prosecution decided not to prosecute the criminal complaint. Then, he filed a criminal complaint by accusing me of being a member of a (terrorist) organization. Although our news agency reports on women, LGBTI+ people, animals, laborers, ecology, etc… a lawsuit was opened against us. What I experienced and still have been experienced show misogynistic policies of the male-dominant system.``

 ‘We should be supported’

Emphasizing that women journalists report on gender-based violence, Pınar Gayip said, “We are targeted for our reports; sometimes by police, sometimes by the judiciary and sometimes by the families of the women. Our reports are based on the statements of women. Women journalists must be supported to unite and defend the people’s right to receive information.”