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Experts Discuss the Role of Media in Women’s Football at BARÜ
At the panel organized within the scope of Bartın University’s (BARÜ) Science Café events, experts discussed the development of women’s football and its representation in the media.
Bartın University (BARÜ) organized a Science Café event bringing together prominent figures from the fields of sports and media. During the “Women’s Football and Media Awareness Panel,” held at the Conference Hall of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and the Faculty of Education on the Kutlubey Campus with the participation of Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Cengiz Karaismailoğlu, the importance of media in the development of women’s football was emphasized.
The panel was moderated by Dr. Gürkan Elçi from the Faculty of Sport Sciences at BARÜ. Speakers included journalist and sports commentator Lütfü Özel, President of the Women Footballers Association and producer of the Kristal Ayaklar TV program Bedri Akkerman, and Attorney Gülfem Kocaoğlu, Administrative Manager of Galatasaray Women’s Football Teams.
Journalist Özel Evaluates Sports Journalism’s Approach to Women’s Football
Evaluating the approach of sports journalism toward women’s football in Türkiye, Lütfü Özel stated: “Journalism is changing in many ways, and sports is one of them. We follow developments but conveying them accurately to the public is a separate responsibility. With the rise of artificial intelligence, we are now struggling to define journalism and perspectives themselves. As a journalist, the center for me is the news itself. The only thing that never changes is the news. Whatever the essence of the story is, we pursue it. In sports journalism, the essential thing is the match itself. From the perspective of all sports branches, answering the basic questions—who, what, where, when, why, and how—is important; everything else is commentary. Women’s football receives very limited coverage in newspapers. It certainly has news value, but our understanding of media has changed.”
Bedri Akkerman: “We Are Working to Make Women’s Football More Visible”
Emphasizing their efforts to increase the visibility of women’s football in the media, Bedri Akkerman said: “After seeing the development of women’s football in Europe and around the world, we wanted to launch a digital magazine ourselves. We created a brand and are now highlighting the achievements of female athletes. We realized that women’s football was almost absent from the sports pages of newspapers. Therefore, we created the Kristal Ayaklar brand and have produced more than 170 programs over four seasons. We want to bring women footballers to the forefront. During this process, we also realized that there was no civil society organization defending the rights of women footballers, so we established the Women Footballers Association. We are trying to raise awareness in this field. As success increases and mainstream media provides more support, we believe we can expand this work further and carry it to the international level.”
Administrative Manager Kocaoğlu Discusses Galatasaray’s Efforts in Women’s Football
Gülfem Kocaoğlu spoke about institutionalization and club structuring in women’s football, stating: “Football is often seen as a male-dominated field, but seeing women here today truly makes me happy. After graduating from law school, I turned to sports law because I wanted to be actively involved in the field. At that time, Galatasaray was beginning to establish its women’s football teams, and I joined the process voluntarily. Three years after the team was founded, we became champions and succeeded in becoming the first and only Turkish team to reach the last 16 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Perhaps we did not receive much media coverage, but for us it was a tremendous achievement. We are striving to show that women can also succeed in this field. I believe that as investments in women’s football increase, its development will accelerate as well.”
The event concluded with a Q&A session and a message emphasizing the need for greater support for initiatives in women’s football.
BARÜ Communication Coordination Office
BARÜ Communication Coordination Office
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