A Discourse Analysis Concerning an Example of Abusive Boyfriend

Interpretation on the Internet journalism of this news which was on the printed and visual headings for days and the reader comments under this news help justify violence against women.

2.1.1. Summary of Event

The video, which circulated in social media on Saturday, November 1, 2014, was on the agenda with the titles "Abusive Boyfriend" and "Unseen Violence in the Heart of Ankara". A young boy using violence against his 16-year-old girlfriend and her 18 –year-old sister in a park in Ankara's Kecioren district asked his two other friends to record the violence by their mobile phones. in the video, the boy is using violence against his girlfriend by constantly saying “apologize” and “show your face”. Ankara Police Department acted on the young boys who later shared these scenes from their social media accounts.

Public order police took three boys into custody by identifying their identities in the video. H.K who beat up his girlfriend from the detainees is 18 years old. H. K., who practices violence against his girlfriend and her sister, was arrested on charges of "confining and threatening freedom and disseminating humiliating images of freedom" and his friends were released for trial without a condition of judicial control.

3. Findings

On November 1, 2014, the first day of the incident, and on November 2, 2014, when violators were taken into custody, hurriyet.com.tr and sozcu.com.tr sites were selected as samples because they had more reader comments on the news. There is no time limit for readers' comments under these reports, and comments were also handled according to simple random sampling methods like news.

Discourse Analysis Applied to News Published on Hurriyet.com.tr Web Site

The event was also shared on webtv.hurriyet.com.tr site on 01.11.2014, the day it started to spread on the Internet. The headline of this news article is as follows: "Unseen violence in the heart of Ankara!"

in the content of the news, it was written that "in the incident in Ankara Kecioren, the young man who claimed that his girlfriend cheated on him beat up his girlfriend and her sister with his friends and recorded it with his mobile phone and shared on his social media account”. It can be deduced that by using an exclamation mark on the heading the newspaper aims to criticize and condemn the violence.

However, the fact that there is a statement that her girlfriend cheated on him gives a message that justifies violence against women to readers and website users in an implicit way. in this context, according to the thematic structure examination of the news, violence against women is given as a background information while the girlfriend's disloyalty is placed to the foreground. One of the readers who received the message commented on the same date that "Well done bro, good for you" while the other one shared that what the woman did was not tolerable.

On 02.11.2014, the event was shared with the title of "Abusive Boyfriend Caught" in the site of hurriyet.com.tr. The newspaper shared the event with a different title from webtv.hurriyet.com.tr the day before, and although the words in the content differ, the expression that the girlfriend's disloyalty was once again emphasized: "in the capital, D.V¹³., used violence against his girlfriend and her sister claiming that she cheated on him and what’s more recorded these moments with his mobile phone and shared on social media.

13The initials of the boy are given as D.V., while another newspaper gives it as H.K.

181 Communication Process of Violence against Women

The theme highlighted in these news is the rightful reason for the boy to use violence against his girlfriend. It is observed that there is a persuasion process in the news. Van Dijk states that when the phenomenon is explicitly defined, when a strong causal relation is established in the textual events, and when the text is expressed emotionally, it constitutes an important persuasion strategy. in the critical discourse analysis, one of the important data used as a persuasion process in the news text is a quotation (Solak, 2011: 11-12). Quotation made from the person using violence against his girlfriend claiming that she cheated on him is an important factor in the persuasion process in the news content.

The quotation included in the news engaged news readers of hurriyet.com.tr into the persuasion process. Readers left 272 comments in the section under the news. The readers were inclined to defend or exclude those people in the news as if they know them. Apart from those who associate it with eastern western culture, there are readers who incorporate this issue into the discussion of politics and corruption.

As already mentioned, the readers’ comments about the "disloyalty" mentioned by the journalists are as follows¹⁴:

"You are always criticizing the child, but I wonder what you would do if your partner cheated on you with 3 or 5 men. You should put yourself on his situation to understand if he is right or wrong.”

"The cheater has no guilt at all?"

"No matter if you are a man or woman, you will not get yourself into these situations, you will play the game correctly, you will not betray anyone, you will be a man or you will get beat up"

"Women are spoilt by the government"

"Whatever it is, no matter who betrays, you will cut off the head, you will not show mercy and you will cut off throat!!!"

"What the girl is doing is obvious, even if the child has gone a little too far. If you are more interested in hanging out with someone else when you're under sixteen, you already deserve the treatment. There is no such thing as any violence to every woman, there is no such thing as violence to a woman who does not deserve it"

"If this girl does not really feel guilty, she will not stop there for a moment and continue to be beaten"

"When he found out that he was cheated, he beat up, and that's not an abnormal situation. Are you rubbing her back when you learn that you are cheated? "

"The cheater has no guilty at all?" statement is made by a female reader named Merve is also another interesting detail. in addition the reader who expressed that the cheater deserves death did not hesitate to publish his photograph... in a sense, this means that the reader does not stop at the end of what he wrote, but that he even heard pride. It is clearly stated in these interpretations that presenting disloyalty as a reason and justification is a normal practice when violence is necessary.

Along with these comments, there are also reader comments that criticize violence. However, while these people criticize violence, the solution to the violence is still found in discourses that find it violent or discriminatory:

"It is very clear that there are situations in which people who legitimize violence must also be beaten"

"Junkie gypsy youth"

"These are Gypsies"

"You will send these uncivilized people to the Middle East, where the non-humans live"

"There is no good in the man's type, nor in his behavior. The country is filled with these backwoodsmen.

Although the interpretation of "junkie gypsy youth" shows that there is a great resentment against the violent ones, the incident of a few people has been attributed to the Gypsies and an excluding and humiliating language is used against them.. in the next interpretation ("where the non-humans live"), the violent individuals are criticized and the people living in the Middle East are excluded.

in the readers’ comments, there are comments that criticize and exclude both the violent and the one exposed to violence:

14 in reader comments, only word errors and punctuation marks have been changed, and comments that are much heavier than the comments in this section are not included.

Mehtap Uyar

"The girls and boys in this video are people who are excluded from normal society. I am also excluding these illiterates. in the street who looks at these apes. When those neighborhood girls cannot find a place in the normal society, they go to these apologies and they are no different"

"Birds of a feather flock together”"

"Girls are characterless and ignorant; men are bandits, assholes. in any case, it is a disgrace for each side. If you look at the appearance of that girl and her sister, it is not their first trial..."

"Spare the rod and spoil the child. If you leave the girl in her own way, she will get lost. A sixteen year old unmarried girl is an old maid."

"I do not feel bad for the battered girl, obviously she likes such types, a girl with good manners will not have any business with such a clan"

in these discourses that exclude both sides, humiliation is emphasized according to the external appearance and the place where they live. It is an important issue to be discussed that the readers who claim that the girl and her sister are already guilty because of their appearance and they deserve the violence are women. in addition, the newspaper’s attitude in displaying the comments and not interfering is obvious that a reader can claim that a girl who is unmarried at sixteen is an old maid on a website where many people can easily access and read Comments.

Discourse Analysis Applied to News Published on Sozcu.com.tr Web Site

The event was shared on 01.01.2014 at sozcu.com.tr website. The headline of this news story is as follows: "He beated his girlfriends shared on social media" Both Hurriyet newspaper's website and sozcu.com.tr do not prefer to move the content of the "disloyalty” to the head of the news. "The young boy, who claimed that her girlfriend cheated on her in Ankara Kecioren incident, beat his girlfriend and her sister and recorded it with his mobile phone and shared on social media”. in this sentence, it seems that the "disloyalty" presented as a reason to justify the violence is hidden in the content of the news.

On 02.11.2014, the title of the news was changed to "that person was apprehended" and it is noteworthy that the accusation of "disloyalty" took place again.

There are three different categories in the news with twenty-three reader comments: a comment that claims that the young girl deserved it, comments that criticize and exclude both the violent and the victim, and comments that correlate this with culture / politics.

Readers' comments regarding the website's "disloyalty" content are as follows:

"Live by the sword die by the sword”...."

There is a comment emphasizing that the young girl deserved it and the violence is normal and the victim who is exposed to violence as a result of social responsibilities should be ashamed of herself, not the violent one. The reader, who does not care about the exposure of violence to the women, put the blame on the woman. According to Article 109 of the Turkish Criminal Code, in addition to depriving the liberty of the person in this case, which may require up to five years' imprisonment for a period of one year, the videotape of the young girl entering and circulating on the internet without permission violates the privacy of private life. Violence is not only physically applied; as mentioned earlier, it can also be applied verbally and emotionally.

There are comments that criticize and exclude both violent and the victim just like the readers’

comments on the website of hurriyet.com.tr:

"Doesn’t she know that this boy is a hick????If my partner hits me, you can’t imagine what I can do to him!!!! (I know Karate and Eastern Martial Arts very well!!!!)))))"

"This girl deserved it, if she keeps sitting next to a man like this, she deserves it!"

"I cannot find anything to say to a girl who hangs out boys like that."

"Girls deserve it, they date with trash people and reject good men. As a woman I would not even walk on the same street with such a guy, not to mention dating. You tenderfoot girl, how could you like this boy”

"The male person has proven her manhood, he is a complete asshole, and the girl is another idiot, so be a little picky with psychopaths!"

"Ok, but did this girl not see that this boy is a hick and continue dating. I am a lady and I would not be in the same place with such a guy not to mention dating.

183 Communication Process of Violence against Women

"There is a saying ... Smart girls go home, ignorant girls go everywhere ... Girls behave very irrationally in love affairs.” According to the reader, who do not stay home and hang outside, deserve violence, and they should not behave abnormally when they are exposed to violence. This discourse that pushes women to the second plan also reveals violations of women's human rights. According to these considerations, women should be deprived of all rights and authorities in economic, social, cultural and political spheres.

Comments that link this situation with culture / politics are:

"Aren’t they the kids of the well-known political party?"

"All the major cities are filled with Arabs and hicks! Love of the hicks could only be at this level.”

Despite the fact that there is no information on the political view of the person who inflicts violence in the content of the news, the reader probably believes that this person defends the opposition party of his own opinion. The reader who may have voted for the same party with this person is acting here with his prejudice. The other reader believes that this person is Arab. Just as the prejudice about the political party here, we are faced with a reader who has prejudice against the Arabs. in both comments, this reaction is prejudiced, with a reaction to the person who carries out the violence. Thus the reaction of the readers to the violence loses value.