The panel discussion titled “Violence in the Media: The Garipoğlu Case” was held on Saturday, organized by the Turkish media dialogue platform Medialog at the Tarık Zafer Tunaya Culture Center, located in İstanbul’s Beyoğlu district. Star daily columnist Ergun Babahan, Milliyet daily columnist Mehveş Evin, Internethaber.com news Web site Editor Dilek Yaraş, Bilgi University research assistant Esra Elmas and Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) department of monitoring and assessment head Nurullah Öztürk participated in the panel discussion, which was the first meeting of the Medialog Platform aiming to discuss problematic reporting by the Turkish media.
The discussion began with Elmas addressing news stories published between the time Karabulut’s body was found decapitated in March inside a dumpster in İstanbul’s Etiler district up until the surrender of the prime suspect in her murder on Sept. 17. Elmas said the murder found wide and detailed coverage in most papers she scanned. She said the Taraf, Zaman and Radikal dailies covered the story relatively differently from others as they abstained from publishing unnecessary details and photographs about the case. Agreeing with Elmas, Evin noted that the Habertürk daily even published a photograph of the bloody saw Garipoğlu used to commit the murder on its front page. “I don’t know whether such a photo has ever been published on a paper’s front page in other countries, but this was a disgrace for the Turkish media,” she said.
Despite agreeing with other panelists in that publishing the photo of the saw was unacceptable, Star daily columnist Babahan said it is very normal for the story to find wide coverage in the media as it bears a story of a person. Arguing that if the media had not covered the story as frequently as it did, light would not have been shed on the murder, Babahan said: “If I were the editor-in-chief of a daily, I would have covered the story more widely.” Stressing that the media should pay attention to the language it uses, Babahan said media institutions are in the end commercial enterprises and murder stories find wide readership among the public.
However, tension ran high during the discussion when Dilek Yaraş disagreed with Babahan and asked him whether he would have covered the murder as widely if the victim was his own daughter. Babahan responded in the affirmative. He also stressed that violence is part of life and that the media cannot turn a blind eye to it. Yaraş, on the other hand, said reporting on stories of violence frequently and widely is tantamount to approving of immorality.
