Turkish journalists hold panel discussion of hate speech in media

A panel discussion of hate speech in the media has been organized by the Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Hürriyet Daily News reports.

Head of the TGC Turgay Olcayto addressed the assembly and said that discrimination and hate speech are common in the Turkish media.

Olcayto also stressed the importance of language that did not marginalize anyone in society.

Professor Yasemin Inceoğlu, lecturer at Istanbul’s Galatasaray University, also took part in the discussion and said the current media situation was desperate, explaining that more than 100,000 news pieces had been examined on the 2007 assassinated Armenian-origin journalist Hrank Dink.

“There is a dominant ideology and ‘we’ description. The ones who rest outside this description are perceived as the other,” Inceoğlu said.