Discrimination in the Media by Denial of Discrimination

Assoc. Dr. Ülkü Doğanay from Ankara University Faculty of Communication is the author of the "Discrimination Framed by the Print Media Research".* According to Doğanay, the "discrimination denial strategy" is one of the most typical examples for discrimination in the media.

"Embrace diversity, stop discrimination" is the topic of this year's International Human Rights Day of the United Nations on 10 December. Doğanay told bianet in this context that the denial of discrimination is one of the methods of a "new racism".

The interim report of the research was published last month. It is based on the review of the 3 best-selling national newspapers Hürriyet, Zaman and Posta and the 3 local newspapers Güneyde İmece, Yeni Balıkesir and Sonsöz. A total of 2,036 news articles and columns were studied in the 4 months between October 2006 and January 2007.

Doğan indicates, "Any kind of perceiving the unprivileged regarding gender, social class or identity paves the way to discrimination". The academic explains that the denial of discrimination is one way of discrimination in itself, which is usually realized without saying "there is no discrimination" or "we do not discriminate" in 3 different ways.

Denial or distortion of the problem: such in the way of saying "There is no Kurdish problem, there is a terror problem". This kind of discrimination is used to illegalize the demands of the ones discriminated and to distort or deny the problem.

Armenians and Kurds are the subject of news items and articles broaching the issue of the postulate that "there is no racism or discrimination in Turkey". 180 news items and articles concerning Kurds suggest that "they are prone to crime", in 65 writings they are described as "unreliable", 23 news items and articles imply that they are "uncivilized and prone to violence".

Christians and foreigners were characterized as "heretical", "licentious" and "homosexual" in 50 news and articles.

Alevites are referred to as actors in 13 writings, suggesting that "also they are Muslims".

Self-declared victims of discrimination: Denial comes along with self-imposition of grievance. This othering leads as far as ignoring the actual victim of the discrimination or concealing the actual criminal offender. This is the case for example when writing "We are victims of the problems in the minority foundations" or "Turkish men became victims of foreign female sex slaves because they carry a disease".

454of all reviewed writings suggested "it is not us but them (Europe) being racists", 132 news and articles said "in fact, everybody - the whole world - is against Turkey and the Turks".

"Business of a third party": this is the conspiracy theory of the ones looking for secret reasons for discrimination. An example for this was given after the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink when it was said that "this incident severely harmed Turkey, which means that it is a part of the games played with Turkey". These are texts hiding our situation and responsibilities or looking for reasons to hide them.

106 news items and articles touched the issue of the Hrant Dink murder being a "conspiracy to the disadvantage of Turkey". In this context, 68 writings suggested that "Armenians cannot be trusted" and "in fact, Armenians should apologize to Turks".

"Journalists should be able to use the term 'discriminatory'"

Doğan indicates that journalists should be able to report about discriminatory topics, but they should show the nature of the discrimination. "When reporting an issue such as 'There is no Kurdish problem, there is a terror problem' it is important what is conveyed in the title. This also shows the journalist's attitude. The journalist must be aware of the fact that what s/he writes becomes common place. It can be useful to anticipate within the news item which reactions it might trigger and how it will be commented on. Additionally, the journalist should declare discriminatory remarks as such. (TK/VK)

* The research is carried out for the Human Rights Joint Platform (İHOP) and is scheduled to be completed in the beginning of 2010. Together with Doğanay, Prof. Dr. Eser Köker is involved as research coordinator besides Hatice Çoban and İlkay Kara as research assistants. In the first phase of the research headlines and contents of the news items and articles are analysed under the aspect of racism/discrimination.