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Description
The Roma community is the victim of several forms of discrimination, which lead to economic and social precariousness. Furthermore, the Roma community is subject to negative reporting in traditional media and social media too. Perceptions about Roma are daily misrepresented by stereotypes, prejudices and hate speech which is propagated, and tolerated in various media. This phenomenon in the Romanian media is not new, but the crisis triggered by the pandemic exacerbates it, which is why an urgent reaction is required. Within the project two webinars with 30 journalists (15 journalists for each event) will be organized. The aim of the project is to increase inclusive writing skills and competences on Roma minority issues of 30 journalists from central and local written press.
The webinars will be focused on the history and the socio-demographic characteristics of the Roma community, and on inclusive writing practices regarding the Roma community, hate speech and stereotypes. The introductory webinar will be held by an active member of the Roma community, sociologist, with a well-known activity in promoting Roma inclusion. The webinar for inclusive writing of press materials will be held by a member of the academic community.
A competition for reports on Roma issues and community will be organized, and the best 10 reports will be acknowledged. Moreover, a virtual newsroom on the topic of inclusive writing about the Roma will be initiated.
A social media awareness campaign on human rights will be conducted based on reports on the Roma topic.
Therefore, the No Hate project aims to increase the receptivity of journalists on the issue of human rights and minorities, with an emphasis on the Roma minority.
It is expected that the models of inclusive reporting will set standards in written media and will be further explored in training sessions for journalists organized by the promoter.
Summary of project results
The Roma community is the victim of several forms of discrimination and the Roma community is subject to negative reporting in various forms of the media. Perceptions about Roma are daily misrepresented by stereotypes, prejudices and hate speech which is propagated, and tolerated in various forms of media. This phenomenon in the Romanian media is not new, but the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates it. A research on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on Roma inclusion was conducted by the Community Development Agency "Together" - project partner. The analysis shows that the image of Roma in the online press from March to September 2020 is rather negative, accentuating the social distance between Roma and non-Roma. Roma people are described as those who do not follow the rules, are violent and do not understand the need for social distance. Two webinars with 30 participants each - journalists interested in the inclusive writing of articles about the Roma community were organized. The journalists were selected through a public call and competition, based on their CV and awritten article or a report idea they wanted to develop about the Roma community. The first webinar (October 29, 2020) was presented by Gelu Duminică, a sociologist and expert in the history and issues of the Roma community. Catalina Olteanu, the first Roma woman appointed in the Board of Directors of the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) was the special guest, at the request of journalists to have a direct dialogue with a prominent representative of the Roma community. The second webinar (November 5, 2020) was held by Sabina Fati, who presented writing methods and practices. A number of 10 journalists who won the contest were mentored by Sabina Fati in drafting their final reports or articles. As a result, 12 editorial articles were produced and publicized as an awareness campaign on Facebook and on the presshub.ro website. They aim to increase public awareness on the discrimination against the Roma during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. An Info Kit was developed as an indicative guide for the journalists who are interested to deepen their knowledge about writing inclusive and non-discriminatory articles about Roma, as well as for the general public.