A "Violence and Media Workshop" was organized for media institutions by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK). Representatives of media institutions attended the workshop, which was held in a hotel in Sarıyer with the contributions of the Ministries of Interior, National Education and Family and Social Services.
Minister of National Education Özer said at the workshop that technology affects every field, especially education, culture, social life and communication.
Stating that technology is the abandonment of life with artificial intelligence, Özer stated that communication channels with the internet have become much richer, differentiated and increasingly difficult to control.
Emphasizing that the young people around the world are starting to struggle with digital addiction and related behavioral disorders, Özer pointed to digital media and social media platforms and said that it is getting harder to reach the right information.
Noting that a minority group that produces technology in the world can interfere with the preferences, behaviors and reactions of a large part of the world, Özer noted that although the Ministry of National Education makes efforts to increase the socialization capacity of young people and keep them away from addiction, they are faced with a very challenging problem.
Mentioning that Turkey has a very strong population in terms of young people, Özer underlined that the frequent exposure of children and young people to violent content causes emotional and psychological traumas.
Minister Özer stated that traumas affect children's relationships with their peers and said, “For him, I do not define violence as just physical violence. In fact, I believe that misinformation and inaccurate information are violence against the truth. That's why I believe that making platforms accessible to our youth, where not only violence in appearance, but also accurate information can be accessed very easily, will contribute to the healthier growth of our country.” said.
“The concept of family has begun to disintegrate”
Rıdvan Duran, Deputy Minister of Family and Social Services, said that fake news spread 6 times faster than true news.
Stating that digital platforms, social media, and conventional media are overtaking, Duran said, “Everyone with a mobile phone started to see themselves as a member of the media. One person started to reach the goals that could not be reached in conventional media through social media, through his followers. This brought with it perception operations or the transformation of business into economic gain. We, unfortunately, are aware that the society is negatively affected in this direction and we are working on this issue.” she said.
Stating that we are passing through a period in which the importance of the family stands out in the world, Duran said, “Because the concept of family has started to disintegrate and unfortunately it is a problem for the whole world. And we are evaluating them with various workshops and sessions.” said.
Duran also said the following about the expectations of media institutions from their officials:
“We expect more family-friendly productions that protect the national and moral values of the society, respect the Turkish family structure, and can be watched as a family. We demand that productions that destroy the privacy of the family, discredit the institution of the family and erode the social values as a result of revealing the family life in the daytime should not be included. We expect the producers to produce content by emphasizing the understanding of responsible production in fictional scenarios, with the utmost sensitivity not to be dealt with negative issues such as distorted relations, intrigue and domestic violence, which are insensitive to family values, contrary to Turkish customs and traditions. By emphasizing the educational aspect of the media, we expect educational publications to be encouraged and family education to be provided, and a common civic consciousness to be created in the society. We expect the basic elements of news such as discourse, photos, videos and sounds to be prepared more carefully and to be conveyed within the framework of public responsibility, in order not to harm the people who are the subject of the news and their family values in the presentation of violence news.”
Stating that they expect common ethical principles to be determined by public institutions, NGOs and media organizations to protect family values, and to increase media literacy training, including digital platforms, in order to create social awareness, Duran said:
“We expect that the hesitations about the benefits of smart signs and protective watch application will be minimized and a common attitude will be determined in terms of applications. We demand an increase in the number of impressive and scientifically based priority publications that will help raise public awareness within the scope of the existence of family values in social life. We expect adult and child content to be classified and categories created on digital platforms and the parental control mechanism to be used effectively. We believe that establishing digital media law and inter-institutional cooperation in the supervision of social media, publishing the content purchased by broadcasters that offer on-demand services after the self-audit process is necessary for the protection of our family structure and values.”
“A clean screen is our desire”
President of RTÜK, Ebubekir Şahin, said that the issue of violence is a problem for Turkey as well as for all societies.
Stating that as RTÜK, they are trying to fulfill their duty on violence, Şahin said, “We are sad to see that violence is given as it is by the media from time to time due to the rating concerns. We know that broadcasting policies that include too much violence content cause serious psychological trauma in the future. We even know that if we take this further, it causes a syndrome that we call 'bad world syndrome' in children.” said.
Noting that broadcasts containing violence are not limited to news bulletins, Şahin emphasized that violence, which has become commonplace and widespread through television, threatens the social structure.
Stating that RTÜK approaches all forms of violence with "zero tolerance", Şahin said the following about what they want to do to prevent violence in the media:
“We are planning to conduct a field study on the social effects of violence in the media. We will ensure that the structure of the Specialization Commission on Violence in Broadcasting, which exists within the body of RTÜK, will be strengthened and become more active with the participation of academicians. We are launching the Project of Measuring Violence in Television Broadcasts and Researching the Violence Perception Levels of the Viewers. We will continue to hold our workshops with the participation of distinguished psychologists, sociologists and academics with academic expertise on violence.”
Şahin added that he wanted a "clean screen".
Within the scope of the workshop, a presentation was made by RTÜK experts to the participants.
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