Hate Speech in Online Health News: News about HIV/AIDS

Hate speech is based on exclusion and devaluation of certain groups in society, which represents a systemic hierarchy. This systemic hierarchy is constructed on the basis of discourse that represents the dominant ideology and media plays an important role in the dissemination of this discourse. In this sense, hate speech is a discursive practice that serves the benefits of the dominant ideology, which is endorsed through the discourse of media. Especially, news media plays an important role in the dissemination of hate speech because news is considered as the representation of real life. This study aims to analyze online health news in terms of hate speech against HIV/AIDS and understand how HIV positive people perceive this hate speech. For examining online news, critical discourse analysis method is adopted; and in-depth interviews are carried out with ten HIV positive people. Findings of the analysis of in-depth interviews are in accordance with the findings of critical discourse analysis, as HIV positive people claim that online news promotes and popularizes prejudices, stigmatization and discrimination against them and that online news’s content involves misrepresentations, misinformation, and incorrect use of terminology. Even though hate speech encompasses all types of expressions that promote, popularize, defend or justify discriminatory, intimidating, disapproving and prejudicial attitudes, HIV positive people do not describe this as hate speech, which points to the fact that hate speech is internalized and justified by its victims