Minorities

We believe that media contribute to an overall negative image of certain minorities by portraying them in a form of negative stereotypes. The media has an irreplaceable role in education to civic rights, in pushing through the idea of tolerance, in overcoming and suppressing discrimination, as well as in the struggle against racism. They also participate in creating the system of values in the society. In connection with this, the approach of media to portraying the issues concerning other than majority attitudes is vital. We believe that media must play a decisive role in this process and that is why we have started our activities focusing on the media coverage of minorities in 2000. We launched the monitoring with the aim to grow sensitivity of the media to open demonstrations of racism as well as to their silent support or indifference on the side of the public. By conducting a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the media coverage of minorities, we have raised public awareness encouraging journalists to develop a greater awareness of media plurality and pay more attention to greater ethnic balance and objectivity.

In our projects focusing on Roma - Colorful but Colorblind and A Homeland for the Roma – conducted in cooperation with Transitions Online and four other organizations, we have sought to counter age-old prejudices with stories featuring personal insights into the daily lives of Roma people. Colorful but Colorblind used multimedia storytelling to promote social integration of Roma in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The stories journey into Roma life in some of the newest EU member states, exploring contemporary Roma identities and culture and obstacles that Roma communities face in achieving equality. The stories were produced by teams comprising Roma and majority-community journalists from these countries in collaboration with graduate students from the School of Communication at the University of Miami. In the framework of a follow up, the same organizations contributed to shooting of a documentary film called Our Dream.