| Abstract [eng] |
The Master's thesis seeks to find links between homophobic behaviour of people working in journalism and their ability to recognize forms of hate crime. The problem of the study is the media’s role in contributing to the stereotypical representation of the LGBTQ+ community and informing the society, inappropriate representation of hate crimes and hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community in the media. The aim of the study was to examine the links between journalists’ homophobic behaviour and their ability to recognize forms of hate crime. A survey of journalists was conducted in the form of a questionnaire, in which 106 respondents currently working in journalism participated. Using the scale of homophobic behaviour (Mažeikienė & Šulcaitė, 2010), a correlation study was performed to assess the situations, and the differences between the means were analyzed. The results of the study showed a correlation between homophobic behaviour and the ability to correctly distinguish between forms of hate crime. The analysis also showed statistically significant differences between homophobic views and respondents’ gender, religion, and having relatives that are a part of LGBTQ+ community. Based on the results, it is concluded that groups with a more tolerant attitude (especially women, younger people, unmarried people, people who have not committed a hate crime, and who support LGBTQ+) correctly recognize more forms of hate crime in situations, i.e. assess the situations more accurately. But some groups (such as women, younger people, people who have LGBTQ+ relatives and journalists that support LGBTQ+ community) tend to notice more forms of hate crime in general, thus they sometimes identify it correctly and other times make mistakes. |
