A news bulletin or violence pornography?

VIOLENCE IN TV NEWS (1)

When security footage emerged showing the moment security guard Tahsin Göker was stabbed to death after warning people causing a disturbance in front of a hotel, the news value of the incident increased in the eyes of television channel executives. These images were broadcast on the main news bulletins of many channels.

I watched it on Show TV’s main news bulletin; the moment the attackers stabbed Tahsin Göker was repeated exactly five times, with the attackers even highlighted. Recently, it has become a habit in news programs to repeat short clips five to ten times. This is a tiresome practice for the viewer and, from a journalistic perspective, a form of broadcasting where the truth is deformed.

However, there is another drawback to repeating a stabbing image over and over; it increases the traumatic effect of the violence. In fact, such a horrific image reflecting the moment a person is stabbed should not be broadcast at all, let alone repeated five times. Broadcasting these violent images repeatedly in this manner normalizes violence and sets a precedent; it likely contributes to the increase in violence as well.

NEWS IN THE NOVEMBER 10 BULLETIN

Moreover, a large part of Show TV’s main news bulletin is filled with violent incidents such as fights, beatings, stabbings, and murders, just like the stabbing of the security guard. In other words, what we call “third-page news” in journalism—police and courthouse reports—occupies the majority of the bulletin.

For the sake of providing an example, I watched the entirety of Show TV’s November 10 news bulletin; news regarding the commemoration of Atatürk was broadcast for about 10 minutes. The news, in which I also counted the repetitions of the violent moments, continued in the following order:

Poured cologne on a woman’s head and set her on fire (14 repetitions), held a gun to his head in a TV building (3 repetitions), spread terror with a pump-action shotgun (5 repetitions), beat a bus driver to death (7 repetitions), a seagull snatched his ear and the security chief beat him (6 repetitions), hit with a bag, laid on the concrete and beat (4 repetitions), gang that had a workplace shot up was dismantled (4 repetitions), parking space occupation with tires (4 repetitions), held a knife to the throat of a disabled youth (8 repetitions).

These news items went on for about 15 minutes. Then, it moved on to news such as the “Court of Cassation,” “November 10 carnation scam,” and “betting scandal in football”; followed by more such criminal events and violence news… The news bulletin ended that evening in this way.

NEWS IN THE NOVEMBER 17 BULLETIN

A week later, on November 17, which was also a Monday, I watched Show TV’s main news bulletin once again. My goal was to see if Show TV’s main news bulletin was constantly filled with such criminal news.

The news bulletin began with news regarding President Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with ministers; it continued with the crash of a military cargo plane in Georgia and the PKK’s withdrawal from the Zap region. Then, developments regarding the death of a four-person family in a hotel in Germany due to poisoning were reported. These news items lasted about five minutes.

Afterward, criminal news containing violence poured in one after another. Instead of providing information about the content of the news, listing the headlines and writing down the number of repetitions of the violent moments will give enough of an idea about the nature of the news in the bulletin:

“Killed his ex-wife’s ex-husband (4 repetitions), neighbors’ noise dispute (7 repetitions),

Indictment ready in the Ayşe Tokyaz murder (5 repetitions), thug attacked and the baby cried (7 repetitions), aesthetic victims: We are being threatened and insulted, lost her life while trying to become beautiful,

Stabbed two people for a photo queue, police caught him by disguising as a courier (5 repetitions), lost his life while trying to break up a fight (9 repetitions), sentence of the tourist who killed 2 muggers has been determined (7 repetitions), attacked a pharmacist with a helmet (6 repetitions), threw all his savings in the trash, the death of Aslıhan Sinem Çiçek (9 repetitions), approached under the pretext of asking for a lighter and plunged the knife (3 repetitions), front is one model and the back is another, construction site turned into a battlefield (5 repetitions), football field became chaotic, accident was survived with material damage (12 repetitions)

The most traumatic of these news items, which occupied 27 minutes of the 48-minute main news bulletin, was the one regarding “the death of Aslıhan Sinem Çiçek.” The image of the young woman covered in blood, struggling for her life while saying “Father, I cannot breathe,” was repeated exactly nine times.

In the remaining 16 minutes, a “news tour compiled from interesting images from the country and the world” was broadcast. News such as “Regulation on the way for dues,” “Collapse in a copper mine in Kenya,” and “Russia hit a Turkish ship” were in this section. However, this final section also consisted of short news items about fights, attacks, accidents, murders, robberies, or things like “Suffered the wrath of a bull” and “Painful entertainment at a wedding.”

NORMALIZING VIOLENCE

As can be seen, Show TV’s November 17 news bulletin is of the same nature as the one on November 10. In both, “third-page news” occupies almost the entire bulletin; violent images are repeated at least three to five times. Thus, the news bulletin turns into violence pornography.

Watching these 31-48 minute bulletins to the end tests one’s endurance. After watching these news items full of violence, fights, noise, and murder, one’s world changes; a Turkey where there are no political, social, scientific, or artistic developments, and where fighting, hatred, violence, pain, and in short, various criminal events infiltrate every moment of life, comes to life before one’s eyes.

Of course, Show TV’s crime-heavy news bulletin prepared in this way might be watched and might get ratings. Indeed, Show TV’s main news bulletin is the fourth most-watched bulletin on most days, following the bulletins of NOW TV, Kanal D, and ATV.

However, not only does it fail to inform viewers accurately and sufficiently about what is happening in Turkey and the world, but it also normalizes violence; by covering news bulletins with constant negative examples, it teaches malice. Because among the viewers, there may also be people whose psychology is prone to violence.

It is a serious contradiction to complain about the increase in violence in every area of life in our country, while at the same time broadcasting violence news by dedicating almost the entire bulletin to it and repeating the images of the moment of violence over and over again.

Undoubtedly, this news reflects what is happening in society, not what is not. However, reflecting what is happening in this way both lowers the level of journalism and alienates people from the news. I hope it does not contribute to people turning to violence.

I will also watch the main news bulletins of other television channels. Let’s see how news containing violence is broadcast on those televisions?