Worsening Safety Conditions for Women Journalists in Turkey’s Alternative News Media

Abstract

This study, drawing on alternative journalism theory takes a postcolonial feminist approach to investigating the lived experiences and gender-based safety problems of women journalists working for alternative media in Turkey. It evaluates the impact on their professional and private lives of Islamism, populism, nationalism and authoritarianism which intersect in this patriarchal autocracy. The thematic analysis of the data gathered qualitatively by 15 in-depth interviews reveals that most of the safety threats to alternative women journalists stem from security forces in the field and arbitrary judicial sanctions in the courthouses. According to the interviewees, the authoritarian government that sees critical journalism as the greatest enemy controls and oversees these assaults. Furthermore, women journalists suffer from the unsustainable working conditions of alternative news media. Alternative media theories would expect these institutions to be gender-equal and pro-labor, but the prevalent indifference to women’s labor and gender rights demonstrates that this normative approach is not justified. However, women still feel encouraged to continue journalism, which they consider an important tool for empowerment not only for themselves but also all “otherized” identities. Moreover, women’s solidarity backed by the feminist movement is the primary source of resilience.

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