Examination of priest murders in Turkey in terms of hate speech in print media

In this study, news texts and columns in the print media were examined in the context of hate speech, and the normalization process of hate speech by gaining a legitimate ground in society through the media, which is an ideological device, was focused on. The aim of the study is to concretize the relationship between discourse and ideology by examining the reflection of two religious-based hate crimes committed in Turkey in terms of hate speech. In this context, the news and columns regarding the murder of Priest Santoro in Trabzon in 2006 and the murder of Priest Padovese in Iskenderun in 2010 were analyzed in terms of hate speech based on newspapers with different ideologies. Within two weeks after the murders of the priests discussed in the study, the news texts and columns in the newspapers about the murders were analyzed using content and discourse analysis in terms of hate speech based on the newspapers such as Hürriyet, Anadolu'da Vakit, BirGün and Agos. In the results obtained, it has been determined that the discourse used in the news texts and columns in the four newspapers selected according to their ideological stances is in line with the ideology that the newspapers adhere to and the values they adopt. Key Words: Hate Crimes, Priest Murders, Media and Hate Speech, Discourse and Ideology