Edited MZ Media Monitoring Report A6 ENG
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UNSPOKEN Creating Dialogue on LGBTI Rights in the Turkish Cypriot Community MedyaMedia Monitoring takipReport raporu ABOUT THE PROJECT: UNSPOKEN: CREATING DIALOGUE ON LGBTI RIGHTS IN THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY The Unspoken Project has been implemented by the Cyprus Community Media Centre in cooperation with Queer Cyprus Association and the Thomson Foundation. This project was launched in November 2015 funded by the European Union under the Cypriot Civil Society in Action program. The Unspoken Project aimed to increase LGBTI awareness within the Turkish Cypriot community, especially in the various sectors such as media, education, law and health. The purpose was to achieve social change by combating discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation and improving levels of media coverage and public debate. A number of activities were organised within the scope of the Unspoken Project, which was a 2-year project that included billboard campaigns, public service announcements, seminars for various professional groups, attitude mapping surveys, thematic discussions, capacity building workshops, a roundtable discussion with editors, yearly media monitoring reports, a series of inclusive-reporting trainings for journalists, communication and advocacy trainings for activists, and a toolkit for media professionals, financial support for the participation at international conferences and activities for the annual pride march organised in the northern part of Cyprus. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We, as the project team, would like to thank Boran Şenhuy, İbrahim Ray, Doğukan Gümüşatam and Derviş Taşkıranlar and Magda Zenon for their contribution in the preparation of this report. !3 INDEX FOREWORD 5 INTRODUCTION 6 NOVEMBER 2015 7 DECEMBER 2015 9 JANUARY 2016 10 FEBRUARY 2016 12 MARCH 2016 14 APRIL 2016 16 MAY 2016 17 JUNE 2016 20 JULY 2016 21 AUGUST 2016 22 SEPTEMBER 2016 24 OCTOBER 2016 25 NOVEMBER 2016 26 DECEMBER 2016 29 JANUARY 2017 30 FEBRUARY 2017 34 MARCH 2017 36 APRIL 2017 38 MAY 2017 40 JUNE 2017 42 JULY 2017 44 AUGUST 2017 45 SEPTEMBER 2017 46 OCTOBER 2017 48 NOVEMBER 2017 50 Glossary 51 !4 FOREWORD “Unspoken: Creating Dialogue on LGBTI Rights in the Turkish Cypriot Community” was a 2- year project funded by the European Union and implemented by Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) in cooperation with Queer Cyprus Association and the Thomson Foundation, which aimed to increase LGBTI awareness within the Turkish Cypriot community in various sectors such as media, education, law and health. Within the framework of this project, our purpose was to combat discrimination and social bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals experience, as well as to conduct activities in order to improve the levels of LGBTI media coverage and encourage a more inclusive media. Within the scope of the “Unspoken” project, we analysed 2 online and 2 printed daily newspapers with largest circulation since November 2015 to explore the attitude of mainstream media with regards to human rights and observe the portrayal and coverage frequency of LGBTI individuals in the Turkish Cypriot media. As a result of this activity, we managed to reach some conclusions about the approach of the mainstream media in the northern part of Cyprus towards LGBTI issues, what kind of visual materials they choose, the number of news which include expert opinions by LGBTI organisations or professionals, and the number of news which reinforce stereotypes and prejudices. We chose to include the news that matched with the keywords even if their focus was not LGBTI; yet, the total number of news over the last two years is 710. Although the number of positive news is higher than the negative, in general the majority of news reports that we deem as positive are the press releases sent by the Civil Society Organisations or news articles from international media rather than news prepared by the local newspapers themselves. We hope that this report will be a useful resource to encourage media institutions to use their transformative potential effectively to combat discrimination and inequality through a responsible and inclusive approach. Hazal Yolga Project Coordinator !5 INTRODUCTION The Media Monitoring Report of 2015-2016-2017 prepared within the scope of Unspoken: Creating Dialogue on LGBTI Rights in the Turkish Cypriot community is developed through regular monitoring of two printed and two internet newspapers: Two Digital Two Printed Newspaper Newspaper Kıbrıs Kıbrıs Postası Gündem Kıbrıs Yeni Düzen Newspaper The screening was conducted by using the following keywords: “gay” “gay” “lesbian” “transsexual” “transgender” “transvestite” “homosexual” “bisexual” “intersex” “faggot” “queer” “queer” “sexual “gender “sexual choice” LGBT" orientation” identity” The news reports matching with the keywords are considered as “positive” and “negative” under two main categories. There are three sub-headings under these two main categories: CATEGORIES 1. POSITIVE (P) a. News reports that are sensitive and respectful to human rights b. News reports that include the views of related individuals or professionals c. News reports covering the press releases or activities of related topic 2. NEGATIVE (N) a. News reports with hate speech and/or discriminatory speech b. Stereotyping and/or criminalising news reports c. News reports with insulting images and/or content and/or bearing bias In order to facilitate the media monitoring, the archived news reports were recorded with the following coding system. In the case of the same news reports published in different newspapers, each of the news were reviewed separately. The coding system used for monitoring and archiving purposes is as follows: First letters of newspaper – Date–Number of news reports–Positive/Negative Nature of News reports Ex: KP-20.11.2015-1A-P =>First positive news reports published in Kıbrıs Postası on 20th November 2015 that matched with the key word !6 NOVEMBER 2015 In November 2015, the Media Monitoring Report commenced with the beginning of the Unspoken Project by monitoring Kıbrıs Postası ve Gündem Kıbrıs newspapers on 11th November 2015. In November 2015, a total number of 21 news pieces matched with the key words, out of which 17 were considered as positive and 4 as negative. Additionally, the press release published on HIV by the Health Department employed a discourse reinforcing the negative perspectives rather than the rights based journalism perspective. HIGHLIGHTS: The cover of LGBTI themed OUT Magazine featuring Barack Obama and the interview conducted by Enver Ethemer with a transgender individual anonymously in Kıbrıs Postası newspaper are considered as examples of positive news. The news reports in Kıbrıs Postası regarding Canada opening its doors to LGBTI refugees was written with a positive discourse and classified under the sub-heading of news reports that are sensitive and respectful to human rights focused journalism. Additionally, the news reports in Kıbrıs Postası and Gündem Kıbrıs about a colt racehorse that was executed for having intercourse with another colt racehorse in Saudi Arabia was not considered under the negative news reports category as the language used in reporting was not negative. Figure 1: Gündem Kıbrıs - “Male and Pregnant” - 17.11.2015 !7 Gündem Kıbrıs covered the pregnancy of Kayden Coleman, a transgender man, with the title “Male and Pregnant”. As the title suggests, this news report overlooks the statements and identities of individuals and ignores the complexities of sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions. Therefore it was categorized as negative news reports under the sub-heading of news reports with hate speech and/or discriminatory speech. Figure 2: Kıbrıs Postası - “Ministry of Health: “HIV is transmitted due to lack of awareness not because of shaking hands, hugging or kissing”” - 30.11.2015 Finally, both Kıbrıs Postası and Gündem Kıbrıs published the statement of local body in charge of health regarding HIV Awareness. The content of news included statements such as “Although the disease emerged in the world for the first time in 1981 among homosexuals, the Health Department points out that the disease is not exclusive to homosexuals and underlined that HIV/AIDS may be transmitted via heterosexual intercourse. In its statement, the Health Department noted that the disease is observed in the same rate among both polygamist and homosexual individuals, and indicated that HIV infected individuals may frequently contract other sexually transmitted diseases simultaneously”. However, HIV was not first observed in 1981 among homosexual individuals; its origin goes back to the 1920s in the Democratic Republic of Congo and it cannot be connected to any specific sexual orientation. When HIV was observed in 1981 in America, research programs were also launched regarding the disease. Since the provision of information that the disease is observed in the same rate among homosexual and polygamist individuals is in the nature of stereotyping and insulting perceptions, these news reports were classified as negative due to leading major misunderstanding and misinformation despite its general positive structure. !8 DECEMBER 2015 In December 2015, a total number of 22 news reports matched with the key words out of which, 18 were considered as positive and 4 as negative. HIGHLIGHTS: Kıbrıs Postası featured news reports about the seminar organised by the Cyprus Turkish Medical Association and Queer Cyprus