04/05/2021 | Writer: Kaos GL
Happy World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd to the members of the free press, especially LGBTI+ press workers, all our colleagues who are making news without objectifying LGBTI+'s, and the media organizations that feature LGBTI+'s in accordance with the principles of universal journalism.
Illustration: Aslı Alpar / Kaos GL
Today is May 3rd, World Press Freedom Day. This day in Turkey media is not free, news are being censored, journalists are losing their jobs, subjected to police violence, face arrests, and trials.
We know that LGBTI+ press workers are invisible, facing discrimination in their workplaces and losing their jobs. We have published a report on how more than half of the news about LGBTI+'s in the print press are showing LGBTI+'s as targets for hate crimes. In 2020, the rate of hate speech and discriminatory language in the written press was 61 percent. LGBTI+ hostility in the media raised hand in hand with politics. Organized hate campaigns became frequent. LGBTI+'s and their organizations were the last to be heard on LGBTI+ related issues. And of course, there is the censorship of the Radio and Television Supreme Council…
Despite this, we also see media outlets that feature LGBTI+'s, journalists who do not objectify LGBTI+'s, bringing them to the center of the news. Hearing more of these stories will strengthen the free press and turn May 3rd into a day of celebration.
As KaosGL.org, we continue to broadcast to make LGBTI+ rights visible and to put LGBTI+'s on the focus. We celebrate World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd for all the reporters, writers and illustrators who have been with us in this and contributed to us. We're strong together!
Happy World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd to the members of the free press, especially LGBTI+ press workers, all our colleagues who are making news without objectifying LGBTI+'s, and the media organizations that feature LGBTI+'s in accordance with the principles of universal journalism. Continue to fight for a journalism that puts LGBTI+ rights on the focus, that makes the unseen labor of LGBTI+'s visible, ensures the equality of LGBTI+ press workers in newsrooms, stands against the smear campaigns and the attitude that pushes LGBTI+ rights to the edges! The press will be liberated by LGBTI+'s!
Tags: media
