One of our readers, Sümeyra Keleş Yerkel, voiced her complaints about Daily Sabah's choice of photos used in the "Two men arrested in Spain for kicking pregnant woman wearing niqab" news article that was published on Sept 8. In both the related Twitter post and the news article itself, photos portrayed two women in niqab. Only their eyes were visible in the photos and the image of the second woman was quite blurred.

Allow me to quote the news article first in order to remind our other readers on the content. Afterwards we will share the letter Ms. Yerkel sent us before reaching a conclusion. Content of the Daily Sabah's Anadolu Agency-sourced news article is below:"Spanish police said Wednesday they arrested two individuals on hate crime charges after an alleged assault on a pregnant woman wearing a niqab."According to the police statement released Wednesday, on Monday night the woman and her spouse were walking with their children in a central area of Barcelona."The woman was in an 'advanced state of pregnancy' and wearing a niqab - a veil covering the face."Police say two people approached the family and started insulting them for the way the woman was dressed. Both individuals had ties to extreme right-wing sports groups, investigators said in the statement."In response to the insults, the husband began to reproach the individuals for their offensive comments, witnesses told police."The men were said to have started pushing the husband and when they started a heavier assault, the woman intervened. Directly after, one of the aggressors kicked the woman in the side of her pregnant belly, witnesses said."Quickly, bystanders jumped in to stop the attack and called the police, according to the statement."When officers arrived at the scene, after talking to the suspected assailants and the witnesses, they decided to arrest both individuals on charges of hate crimes, discrimination and for causing bodily harm."Letter from our readerSümeyra Keleş Yerkel started her criticism by summarizing the content of the news article and as we covered that above let us skip over the following part of her letter:"I believe the main point of emphasis in the news article should have been the use of violence and barbarism against the Muslim population. However the choice of photo used in the news article unfortunately directs the attention elsewhere. In another words towards the Muslim women who wear a niqab. Also the title 'Two men arrested in Spain for kicking pregnant woman wearing niqab' unfortunately directs the attention to the women who become targets because of their visible Muslim identity and wearing of the niqab instead of the criminal violence and two perpetrators. Thus, the perpetrators who committed the violence and the violence itself become shadowed by the niqab."No matter what the content is, no matter how much emphasis is on the Islamophobia or barbarism of the violence in the news article, the imagery and photos can be very permanent in people's perceptions. It can even allow them to draw up a conclusion like this: 'Yes violence is reprehensible an [sic] bad but women should also show their faces, we must argue on both fronts.' With this reasoning, the debates on the values of the Europe and their protection starts anew. Therefore the hate and its inevitable conclusion violence gets ignored."According to French media theoretician Jean Baudrillard said that individuals who limit themselves into a universe of images could only interpret and assess reality through images he or she somehow (in this case through media) contacted. It is quite often that one could encounter in Western Media that the news articles related with Muslims have symbolic photos accompanied to them especially in the case of news articles on criminal matters such as insults, sex crimes, child brides etc. By associating these two people's perception of reality are skewed via -as Baudrillard said- simulations to build new hyper-realities. What we call truth starts to replace the heart of the matter with the aid of media as the new realities built upon symbols and false presumptions. Truth gets destroyed and the line between truth and reality gets blurred as the readers and viewers start to perceive only this reality. They shape their perception of the world accordingly."In the end usage of the terms like 'burqa wearer' or 'DAESH terrorist' against Muslims in the daily life in Europe born from media's long standing portrayal of this reality. The real source of the senseless hate against Muslim women in Spain lies in the wording, connections and images of the media. Of course political statements, actions and bans only fanned the flames. However the legitimate ground for these to happen was mostly caused by the media. Therefore I believe an alternative media language and discourse along with an alternative academic and political discourse must come from us since only then we can overcome the simulation universe built by the West and hyper-reality while taking small but important steps for returning to the truth."ConclusionI agree with our reader Yerkel's criticisms on this matter. Despite the fact that the content of the news article is different than what the photos portray, Daily Sabah web editors were mistaken in their choice of photos.As we stated before on numerous occasions on this matter, our editors should avoid using stock images on their present-day news articles as much as possible. The photos must absolutely be related to the contents of the news article. Even though photos are an inseparable part of the news articles, sometimes photos themselves are news on their own.Now on an even more related tone, we emphasized before that using photos of women in the news articles on violence, racism, discrimination and hate crime against women will only serve to victimize the victims once again. The correct route in these matters would be emphasizing the reprehensible nature of their crimes while using photos of these criminals in order to denounce them. These actions would give media incentive to act as a deterrent in these matters.To summarize, we can say that the photo used by Daily Sabah is not directly related to the subject of the news article. There are no similarities between the women in the photo and the victims apart from the similarities in their clothes. The women who were subjected to violence are not the perpetrators. Therefore, the news article should have been accompanied by the photo of the two men.More than simple words

Another important point our reader emphasized in her letter is the choice of words used in the title. Two weeks ago we emphasized a similar point in our "There are no 'good' terrorists" Reader's Corner article that was published on Sept 4. It appears that we have to agree with our reader's more general criticisms about the Western media's since we also made similar remarks on the same subject two weeks ago and though our grief focused on the use of terms like freedom fighters rather than terrorists, as per the individual media company's agenda, the underlying point remains the same. By using specific words and terms to define groups without regard to the truth of the matter is a clear attempt to shape public perception, as our reader eloquently puts.

With a similar thing happening in a negatively discriminating way in Europe to fuel hate toward Muslim women, it is no wonder islamophobia is it at peak levels. Media companies should be able to draw the line between editorial decisions and clear, false propaganda as people will no doubt look back upon these times and blame the media as a key factor in the striking disparagement of foreign peoples. Let us hope, though, that changes are made so that the media will be remembered as a positive force instead of an ill one.