ELİF AKGÜL

Istanbul - The Civic Space Studies Association (Turkish: Sivil Alan Araştırmaları Derneği) has released its University in the News: Media Monitoring Report 2021. The report written by journalist Beyza Kural examines Turkey’s student movement strengthening after the protests that started against the appointed rector to the Boğaziçi University and how the news articles published in Turkey’s pro-government media about the movement.

In the report, 353 news articles published by the pro-government press outlets such as A Haber, Akşam, Yeni Şafak, Calendar, Sabah, and Yeni Akit between January 4 and March 31 were observed.

342 of 353 news pieces are in a negative tone, while the remaining 11 are in a neutral tone. Not a single positive toned news is found among all examined, according to the report. “Negative-toned news corresponds to the types of news targeting protests and students, where themes such as “accusation”, “provocation”, “perversion” predominate, including none of the students' demands, and sharing accusing statements of the official sources. In these news items, the discourses of university members cannot find a place, and this deficiency is reinforced with related visuals. In these news pieces, there are also examples in which students are identified as “provocateur” in the title and “pervert” in the content,” the report says.

Emphasizing that students were portrayed as “provocateurs”, “aberrant” and “terrorists” in the news articles instead of persons demanding their rights, journalist Beyza Kural said, “In the news articles, most of the students were identified as 'provocateur' rather than student. They were also identified as “terrorists, “so-called students”, “vandals” and “LGBTI supporters” while some news outlets identified the students as “Activists”, “demonstrator” and “protestors”. Students were also identified as 'suspects' in the news articles about indictments or police reports, detentions, and arrests against them.

Stating that the words of the politicians published as facsimile in the news articles, constituted a significant part of the hate speech and discrimination in the news, Beyza Kural said, “A language aiming at discrimination among students was used by saying ‘our students are different, marginal groups are different.' But the demands of the students weren’t mentioned in the news. The voices of government representatives were reported mostly in the news articles. Social media posts of the students including their demands could be added to the news articles. Or the banners including their demands could be seen in the news. Despite that, the students continued to be treated as the subject of targeting.”

Hate speech against LGBTI+’s

While LGBTI+’s were targeted, hate speech was not missing. LGBTI+ are targeted in 80 news pieces and some of these news articles mention LGBTI+ associations. Hate speech is common in the news articles, the report says.

Stating that the statements of the students who spoke out against the protests were also reflected in the news articles with headlines reading, “Details behind Boğaziçi University protests are emerging!” and "the real students", Beyza Kural emphasized that hate speech against LGBTI+s is particularly common in the news articles about the exhibition of Boğaziçi.

“The exhibition held in the South Campus of Boğaziçi University was portrayed as immoderate insults against Muslims in the news articles. The theme used by most of the news articles targeting LGBTI+s and including hate speech against them was ‘deviation’,” Beyza Kural told us.

Statement of Soylu

Hate speech against LGBTI+ are prominent in 65 news stories; in fact, the quotations by politicians in 15 of these news articles include hate speech. The discourses that are reported mostly in the news and include hate speech belong to the Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, the report sa

“The words of politicians were frequently quoted in the news. Verification methods were not used. We can say that this hate speech towards LGBTI+ students was supported by the words of politicians. Unfortunately, this hate speech was not only used in the news, it was also included in the indictments. Investigations based on these news articles were launched against students and the students stood trial. Shortly, we, unfortunately, didn’t find any news articles that emphasize the total student protests, student activism, and their demands.”