Media Watch on Hate Speech Report May-August 2019
"For many years, willingly or unwillingly, the media in Turkey has been one of the primary sources of hate speech and discriminatory discourse, considerably escalating the polarization within society."
The general objective of “Media Watch on Hate Speech” project is to contribute to the efforts of combating racism and discrimination in Turkey. Considering the importance of civilian oversight of the media, it aims to strengthen respect for human rights and tolerance of differences in the media, to draw attention to discriminatory discourse and hate speech against persons and groups targeted for certain characteristics of their identity, and to raise awareness.
The knowledge and experience on hate speech and discriminatory discourse gained thanks to the work carried out since 2009 have paved the way for the founding of ASULIS Discourse, Dialog and Democracy Laboratory at the Hrant Dink Foundation as the first research center focusing on discourse in Turkey.
In the four-month period of Media Watch on Hate Speech project covering May-June-July-August 2019, 1299 columns and news articles targeting national, ethnic and religious groups had been analyzed. Since 14 publications generated hate speech against more than one group in different categories, these articles are analyzed in accordance with the number of featured groups/categories (more than once). Thus, the total number of analyzed items reached 1313. In all these analyzed content, 1575 hate speech items against 46 groups had been found.