Covering violence or masking it as porn?
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Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 14, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The government backed a series of workshops in Ankara last week for 75 communications students from all over Turkey to build a better understanding of how reporting violence against women can contribute -- and sometimes create -- a damaging undercurrent in society.
The rape of a Turkish actress was made public a couple of years ago when the man who raped her videotaped the act and shared it with friends. The news media picked up the footage and played it on a near-continuous loop for more than a week.
Many of the largest newspapers in Turkey ran photos of her while news outfits stalked her relentlessly. One headline four months later read: "The beautiful movie actress tells the story of the rape she experienced." Angered by the gratuitous language and imagery that took the crime out of its criminal context, the actress said: "I will no longer give full accounts since I do not want what happened to me to be used as a masturbation tool."
This past week, 75 communication students from all over Turkey participated in a weeklong workshop supported by the Interior Ministry to build awareness for women's human rights in reporting on acts of violence against women.
Part of a larger Ministry of the Interior project to support women’s shelters, which is financed by the EU Commission and supported by the United Nations Population Fund, the project teamed up with the Ankara University Communications Studies Faculty to present the workshops on "Violence Toward Women and the Media" that ended last Sunday.
The goal of the series was to help aspiring journalists and communications professionals realize that reporting on violence toward women can also perpetuate the same violence it reports. Zerrin Coşkun, a fourth-year journalism student from Ankara told Bianet that the media sector legitimizes violence. "Through workshops like these, we become more sensitized toward violence."
The content of the workshops also helped change some misconceptions. Several students were honest enough to admit a shift in their mindsets. Serdal Koçer, of the Radio, Television and Cinema department at Ankara University, told Bianet that prior to the workshops he had believed only "uneducated people" were violent toward women. "The workshop has changed my opinion," he said. "We are trying to emphasize violence without showing and reproducing it."
Making news matter
Ankara University public relations student Hasan Kızılkan said he used to think that people exposed to violence stayed silent because of the pressure around them. "But now I realize that violence is internalized," he said. "It is in our hands to get rid of the violence in our lives."
Each of the workshops Ğ photography, visual arts, PR, Internet, short film and documentary, radio and advertising Ğ discussed the services local government should make available to women facing violence. The training also aimed to create awareness about municipal family advice centers. If the organizers consider the workshop outcomes to be viable recommendations, municipalities in Ankara, Samsun, Gaziantep, Antalya, Bursa, Eskişehir, Istanbul and İzmir could use them to promote their services.
Associate Prof. Hülya Tanrıöver of Women’s Media Observation Group (MEDİZ) urged the media to be more responsible in making news of rape incidents, turning readers’ attention toward the social and legal dimensions of such incidents rather than sexualized subtext. She told Bianet in November that she thinks the media reveals a victim’s identity when publishing news of the rape to use the story as pornographic material for men.
"There should at least not be photographs and identities should not be revealed," Tanrıöver said. But she maintained that the most pressing need was for professional organizations and media institutions to form constantly updated training programs within their staff.
At one of the workshops in Ankara, a tense moment transpired during a panel session attended by police officers when students questioned the police violence against women during the March 8 Women’s Day protests last year. The officers offered no response.
Two weeks ago a member of Parliament from the People’s Republican Party (CHP), Gaye Erbatur, asked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to say whether anything was being done about the increase in violence toward women. She also demanded information about the training of public sector workers.
She told Bianet, "It is difficult to say that the projects following the memorandum, including the education of the police force, have had any results. We must not give up and must start a new campaign."
Many of the largest newspapers in Turkey ran photos of her while news outfits stalked her relentlessly. One headline four months later read: "The beautiful movie actress tells the story of the rape she experienced." Angered by the gratuitous language and imagery that took the crime out of its criminal context, the actress said: "I will no longer give full accounts since I do not want what happened to me to be used as a masturbation tool."
This past week, 75 communication students from all over Turkey participated in a weeklong workshop supported by the Interior Ministry to build awareness for women's human rights in reporting on acts of violence against women.
Part of a larger Ministry of the Interior project to support women’s shelters, which is financed by the EU Commission and supported by the United Nations Population Fund, the project teamed up with the Ankara University Communications Studies Faculty to present the workshops on "Violence Toward Women and the Media" that ended last Sunday.
The goal of the series was to help aspiring journalists and communications professionals realize that reporting on violence toward women can also perpetuate the same violence it reports. Zerrin Coşkun, a fourth-year journalism student from Ankara told Bianet that the media sector legitimizes violence. "Through workshops like these, we become more sensitized toward violence."
The content of the workshops also helped change some misconceptions. Several students were honest enough to admit a shift in their mindsets. Serdal Koçer, of the Radio, Television and Cinema department at Ankara University, told Bianet that prior to the workshops he had believed only "uneducated people" were violent toward women. "The workshop has changed my opinion," he said. "We are trying to emphasize violence without showing and reproducing it."
Making news matter
Ankara University public relations student Hasan Kızılkan said he used to think that people exposed to violence stayed silent because of the pressure around them. "But now I realize that violence is internalized," he said. "It is in our hands to get rid of the violence in our lives."
Each of the workshops Ğ photography, visual arts, PR, Internet, short film and documentary, radio and advertising Ğ discussed the services local government should make available to women facing violence. The training also aimed to create awareness about municipal family advice centers. If the organizers consider the workshop outcomes to be viable recommendations, municipalities in Ankara, Samsun, Gaziantep, Antalya, Bursa, Eskişehir, Istanbul and İzmir could use them to promote their services.
Associate Prof. Hülya Tanrıöver of Women’s Media Observation Group (MEDİZ) urged the media to be more responsible in making news of rape incidents, turning readers’ attention toward the social and legal dimensions of such incidents rather than sexualized subtext. She told Bianet in November that she thinks the media reveals a victim’s identity when publishing news of the rape to use the story as pornographic material for men.
"There should at least not be photographs and identities should not be revealed," Tanrıöver said. But she maintained that the most pressing need was for professional organizations and media institutions to form constantly updated training programs within their staff.
At one of the workshops in Ankara, a tense moment transpired during a panel session attended by police officers when students questioned the police violence against women during the March 8 Women’s Day protests last year. The officers offered no response.
Two weeks ago a member of Parliament from the People’s Republican Party (CHP), Gaye Erbatur, asked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to say whether anything was being done about the increase in violence toward women. She also demanded information about the training of public sector workers.
She told Bianet, "It is difficult to say that the projects following the memorandum, including the education of the police force, have had any results. We must not give up and must start a new campaign."