NEWTON Media publishes analysis of the image of Roma in the Czech media 2013

The NEWTON Media company has produced an analysis of "Stereotypes in the media portrayal of Romani people in 2013" (Stereotypy mediálního obrazu Romů v roce 2013) which was presented on 24 and 25 September at the "Media Reflections" conference convened by the Czech Council of Radio and Television Broadcasters in collaboration with Czech Radio and Czech Television in Telč. The same analysis was recently presented at a round table with journalists convened by the ROMEA association in Prague. 

The first eight months of this year, from the perspective of the media, developed in a significantly dramatic way when it came to the lives of that group of citizens who are most frequently labeled "Roma", less frequently labeled "Gypsies" or "gypsies", and more and more frequently being referred to as "inadaptables" by the Czech media. On the one hand, the media reported more frequently on rising anti-Romani sentiment among the majority population, sentiment which was specifically reflected in assemblies and marches in various places around the country, as well as in everyday manifestations of dissatisfaction or grudges against Romani people.   

On the other hand, we have been also learning through the media of the growing social problems experienced by Romani people and "inadaptables" (not all of whom are Romani, of course), with housing-related problems taking first place. Moreover, it seems that a rise in the number of crimes perpetrated by Romani people was a triggering mechanism for all of these events, as were more frequent violations in general of rules, whether unwritten or written, established by the majority society.

The media, for the most part, does its best to treat Romani people neutrally whenever its reporting does not directly deal with crime. However, voices pointing out that the so-called "Romani problem" is much more complicated in reality and that it cannot be captured through linear treatment and simplistic generalizations are rarely heard in the Czech media.

The most frequent genre of reporting about Romani people was news reporting (3 286 pieces), and this genre included the highest number of reports featuring various kinds of evaluative statements about Romani people – ambivalent, negative, or positive –  although neutral pieces predominated, as is customary in news reporting (50 %). On the other hand, when it came to commentaries, the most marked kind of such evaluative feature pieces were ambivalent ones (33 %). 

Analyses, interviews and surveys were a much less frequent genre and almost none of them featured negativity. The authors of analyses usually did their best to be balanced and unbiased, as did those who were asked to make statements about Romani people in interviews and surveys.

The quotations of people asked for comment about goings-on or about the situation in their neighborhoods generally took a completely different tone. These quotations were a component of news reporting and often were negative when members of the majority were asked for their opinions and ambivalent when Romani people were asked for theirs. 

For the complete analysis, which describes the thematic context of publicity about Romani people in the Czech media (in Czech only), please contact analyzy@newtonmedia.cz. The author of the analysis is Mgr. Ivan Vodochodský PhD., a media analyst working for NEWTON Media, a.s.