Ethical Journalism Workshop within the Branded Course of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature

Within the scope of the course “Literary Theory and Criticism: Intelligence Writing: Criticism and Creativity 5.0” offered by the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at our university, this week focused on media ethics and journalism practices. The course, taught by Prof. Dr. Elmas Şahin, hosted Nil Sezer – the producer, presenter, and director of the documentary travel program “Seyri Alem” broadcast on Nil TV, one of Mersin’s distinguished local television channels, as a guest speaker.

The class was conducted as a hands-on workshop in a laboratory setting. In the session titled “The Power of Language in the Media: Ethical Journalism”, Sezer delivered a presentation on “The Role of Media in Preventing Violence Against Women.” During the presentation, the social impacts of language used in journalism were explained to students through examples.

It was particularly emphasized that headlines such as “A Jealousy Crisis Claimed a Life” normalize violence in society. The importance of making the victim visible and focusing on the perpetrator in proper journalism practices was highlighted. Afterwards, news headlines were analyzed together with students through a question-and-answer method.

As part of the workshop, students:

• analyzed the impact of the language used in the media,

• identified victim-blaming discourse,

• examined journalism approaches that make the perpetrator visible,

• discussed the effects of news headlines on behavior,

• produced sample news texts in line with the principles of ethical journalism.

The workshop contributed to students’ development of a critical perspective, their understanding of the importance of ethical journalism, and their ability to create creative news content.