Media violence and gender: "An analysis on the news of the murder of Pınar Gültekin"

Although every human being has equal rights to life, women have generally been forced to live in a subordinate position from past to present. Forced to stay in the background by the patriarchal mentality, women have been seen as an entity to be dominated. Women who try to live under the conditions caused by power inequalities are often subjected to violence. Violence against women, which is defined as any kind of physical, sexual or psychological assault, threat or coercion that women are subjected to because of their gender, is fuelled by many areas. The most important area where violence is reproduced and legitimised is the media. Especially the way the media presents the news on violence against women is a subject that has been widely discussed in recent years. As a matter of fact, this study investigates how femicides, which are seen as a social problem, are presented in the media. In this framework, the news on the murder of Pınar Gültekin, which caused a great resonance in the public opinion, was analysed in the example of Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet and Akit newspapers with different editorial policies. Through critical discourse analysis, it was observed that all three newspapers announced the developments regarding the murder to their readers with a sensational and tabloid style of journalism. When both the headlines and the content of many of the analysed news items are examined, it is seen that private life is unnecessarily scrutinised, the incident is narrativised and the news item turns into a tabloid news rather than a murder. Keywords: Women, Gender, Media, Violence, News