Jin News, the first women news agency in Turkey, provides an example of all-female led media organisation. Women lead all processes of news production and take on the mission of making Jin News an outlet where women’s movements can make their voices heard.
Nowadays, feminist interventions in media have become more important for fighting sexist discourses in mainstream media and addressing inequalities in every part of the patriarchal societies.
Jin News, an internet-based news agency established in Diyarbakır—a predominantly Kurdish city in southeastern Anatolia—is one of the most significant instances of this kind of women journalism.
“We object to a platform where only men speak”
Jin News, the first women news agency in Turkey, is a pioneer of all-female news with a team comprising women in all processes of news production taking on the mission of becoming an outlet where women’s movements can make their voices heard. When rights are violated, the agency sheds light on the fact, when a struggle takes place, it talks about it, it lends its pen to women who wish to express themselves.
This should not mean that Jin News only make news about women. Ayşe Güney, one of the editors of the agency, says, “We make news in every field from politics to sports, from economy to arts and culture. In this sense, we are no different from other agencies. But we try to see the news from the perspective of women. We include the comments of politicians, academics and women workers. We object to a platform where only men speak.”
Ayşe also says that they are in search of a new language while giving voice to women. For example, they use the surname of a women once in their news, and in the rest, only the name of the women is used. “Because,” says Ayşe, “that surname belongs to a man, father or spouse. We know that this understanding belongs to the male-dominated world and we reject it.”
Agency employees strive to develop their own language through meetings, seminars and discussions. Ayşe says, “We are in search of improving both ourselves and our journalism.”
Jin News under constant pressure
Is it easy to do women journalism? Of course not. The media outlet and its employees are frequently targeted by the state for their coverage and stance on gender-based and Kurdish issues in the country. For example three weeks ago, police raided the premises of local media outlet Jin News in Diyarbakır and seized books, newspapers, computers, hard drives and other digital equipment. JINNEWS Manager Safiye Alagaş, and JINNEWS Editor Gülşen Koçuk are arrested. Just ten days ago, Jin News reporter Melike Aydın was arrested in İzmir.
Reminding this, Ayşe says, “I believe that Melike will be released at the first hearing because she was arrested for her journalistic activities.” Then she summarizes the problems they have faced so far:
“There is always pressure from the police. They can easily raid our office saying, ‘We have received a warning that there is prostitution here.’ When we make news about femicide or rape, men can call and threaten to rape us. Our colleagues working in the field are also discriminated against by their male colleagues. During the time of conflict, our female friends worked in the field and therefore they were in danger of death, investigations were launched against them, and they were put on trial.”
Ayşe says that many newspapers does not give Jin News the attention it deserves.
“Many newspapers do not see our news or publish the news without citing us. So are women’s institutions and women politicians, for some reason they don’t see our news or share it on social media. We expect them to be sensitive about this because Jin News is always the first to report on them and hand them a microphone.”